


What if Someone Vicious Had Entered?

by S A G (setgree)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality
Genre: LGBTQ Character, POV Female Character, rationality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-01
Packaged: 2018-08-18 23:38:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 48,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8180098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/setgree/pseuds/S%20A%20G
Summary: This short book re-imagines Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by asking the title question.In spring 2009, while re-reading the series, I started thinking that Harry, Ron and Hermione should take their enemies more seriously, and more often employ lethal violence. Early on in Deathly Hallows, for instance, they overpower two Death Eaters in a London cafe and then immediately bolt. Much better, I thought, to kill the Death Eaters and transfigure their remains into bones, as Barty Courch Jr. did to his father in Goblet of Fire. I could accept that the trio wouldn’t do something like that, but it defied belief that no one else, anywhere, would treat Voldermort as an existential threat and play hardball. This book is about characters who do, and the kinds of choices they would make.My deepest debts to J.K. Rowling, Jim Butcher, Orson Scott Card, Cormac McCarthy, Eliezer Yudkoswky, my first round of readers, and the people like D & M who transfigured into Sarah.





	

 

**Part I: Their world**

_“She quirked one eyebrow, very slightly, somehow conveying layers of disapproval toward multiple aspects of my appearance, conduct, and situation, and said, ‘Finally.’_

_‘There’s been a lot on my mind,’ I replied._

_‘It seems unlikely that your cares will lighten,’ Mab replied. ‘Improve your mind.’"_

–Jim Butcher, _Cold Days_

**Chapter 1**

**Lev**

The days leading up to our first meeting with Harry Potter passed like most that summer: in training. We were at our retreat in the Yukon, running combat games during the day, eating meals communally, playing soccer in the evenings. Sarah, Jess and I had just finished up our final drills for the day and were walking into the mess hall for dinner when I saw Remus Lupin, sitting next to some of the adults, talking quietly.

Visitors from the Order were not uncommon, but they’d been absent since word of Dumbledore’s murder had reached us about a month ago. The adults were trying to keep the worst of it away from the kids, but things came out. Nate Miller, our captain of sorts, had told Jess that the situation in England was "very, very bad," and Sarah’s mom had said that Voldermort was now next to openly seeking collaborators for a near-future coup. My mom had suggested that they thought the three of us could be some help, something to do with Potter, and they’d stopped even pretending to be interested in training us separately, which suited me fine. Our strengths were complementary and our telepathy basically perfect, and everybody knew it. At that point we were just waiting for a signal, and there he was, looking awful. In the after-dinner announcements, Nate mentioned that Lupin was looking to speak to the rising seniors, which was just the three of us. We walked over and sat down with him.

“How are you Remus?" Sarah asked.

“Well, I, I’ve had my share of cares lately," he said.

“We heard about Professor Dumbledore," Jess said. “We’re very sorry."

“So am I, Jessica. He was a great man. How much do you know about his demise?"

“Not much," Sarah said. “He was killed by one of Voldermort’s crew, in his school, yeah?"

“That’s correct. By another teacher, actually. Severus Snape, former member of the Order. A man we trusted, because Dumbledore trusted him. It was a serious loss on both counts."

“What is it that we can do to help?" I asked.

Lupin looked at me.

“That obvious, then. Yes. There’s something we need school-aged students for. We’d like to have more eyes shadowing Harry Potter next year at Hogwarts. A few members of the Order have been discussing it with your crew here, and your parents think you’re ready. If the school falls to Voldermort, we may call on you to cover his exit. We’d also appreciate people on the inside for additional reconnaissance, whom we trust to improvise, and do what’s best for the Order. Are you in?"

This was broadly in line with what we had hashed out, and we had been ready to say yes long before Lupin came. But before I could say any of that, Sarah broadcast [quiet please I need a minute to think.] We obliged.

“A few questions, Remus. How are we going to swing entering Hogwarts as older students? How will we get information out? And I’m unclear on the core mission. Is our first objective information or protecting Harry Potter?"

“All fair," Lupin said, steepling his hands. “The first, I can answer easily, though I don’t mind telling you that setting it up was a bit tricky. We’ve placed a confounding curse on a pure-blooded, Death Eater-aligned family, the Parkinsons, and convinced them that a long-lost American relative – that’ll be you, Jess, as we think you look most similar to their daughter Pansy – and two of her friends are, shall we say, sympathetic to the Dark Lord’s goals, and seek to gain firsthand knowledge of his practices. For future application to America, of course."

He smiled briefly.

“The Parkinsons have quite a bit of sway at Hogwarts, and we think the Board will make an exception and allow three exchange students. To your next question, direct communication may prove dangerous, as you’ve surmised; we’ll leave it to your best judgment, but you may need to only contact the Order during breaks. As to the core mission, that’ll depend on whether Harry is there. We’ve had a couple clues that he intends to leave school, and if he does, you’re on information. But if he’s there, at any time, his protection is your top priority. Do you understand the mission? Are you willing?"

Sarah looked at us.

“Well?"

Jess looked at me, and then at Sarah, and spread her hands. “Of course," she said.

I nodded.

Sarah turned back to Lupin.

“All right, Remus. We’re your team."

“Excellent," Lupin said. “We’re moving Potter to a safehouse later this week. We’d like you three to be there to meet the crew and provide backup as necessary. Come walk with me outside and we can hash out the details."

We rose and followed him, Jess looking elated, Sarah watching us.

**Chapter 2**

Two days later, 11:17 a.m. our time and 8 hours later in England, Sarah, Jess, Lupin and I tumbled onto the Weasley's lawn and met the rest of Harry's support crew.

The plan, we had learned, involved creating decoy Harrys; as an added element of confusion, Nate had suggested to Lupin that I be completely veiled and Jess be a backup of Lupin. Sarah would masquerade as Harry and ride with Jess. 

Out of the Burrow came a party of eleven newcomers. Mad-Eye, Tonks, Shacklebot, and Arthur Weasley I recognized. I counted four other redheads, a woman whose beauty I found astounding, a girl my age, and a man in rags. Lupin introduced them as Bill, Fred, George, and Ron Weasley, Fleur Delacour, Hermione, and Mundungus Fletcher. 

"Sarah, Lev and Jess are coming here from a yearly training camp they attend in Yukon," he told the Brits. "Their parents are old allies, and were absolutely crucial last time around. The three of them are here to get to know you and also to serve as additional backup in case we’re attacked."

That drew some skeptical looks. the French woman coughed slightly, and Ron Weasley raised his eyebrows high enough that they seemed to melt into his hair. Bill, however, looked at us and said, “well, it’s a pleasure to meet you all. More help is always appreciated," and made to clap me on the shoulder. Before he could make contact, however, his hand wrapped around the barrel of the AR strapped there.

“Hello! What is this? Do all Americans carry invisible assault rifles?" He asked.

“Just the insecure ones," Jess smirked.

“I’m sorry," Ron said. “You’re carrying an assault rifle? And we can’t see it?"

Sarah looked at him.

“Well, we’re all heavily armed. And of course you can’t see it, what’s the point of a weapon your enemy knows about?"

“How?" Ron asked.

“Semi-permanent concealment and silencing charms. We soldered on/off enchanted switches onto our gear. And they respond directly to our will when aiming which makes them extremely accurate. Dead useful."

“Are you carrying a bazooka or whatever?"

“No, I have some sidearms, but my main tool is a coil of wire. You should know that the bullets we use have some rather unsettling modifications as well."

“All right," Mad-Eye intoned, “enough flirting. Let’s go. Those of you on brooms, mount. Those riding thestrals, they’re currently eating behind the house. We’re meeting Hagrid mid-air; we leave in two minutes."

We flew to Harry's house, joined mid-way by a giant on a motorcycle. We landed in the backyard of what looked like a middle-class house in a neighborhood where people spent a lot of time keeping lawns tidy.

The door flew open, and out ran a wiry boy my age with messy black hair to greet Ron and Hermione, but Mad-Eye quickly ushered us inside. As the three Americans trailed through the door with Lupin, the-boy-whom-I-took-to-be-Harry-Potter looked at his friends and loved ones, smiling, before his eyes fell on us, and registered faint surprise. Lupin gave him the same schpeal he had given the others.

“It’s a pleasure," Harry said, and Hagrid also gave us a small wave. His curiosity satisfied, Harry turned to catch up with the others. I excused myself from the group and stepped into Harry’s living room to prepare, carrying the broom. Four minutes and a total pain-in-the-ass invocation later, I walked back into the kitchen to the bizarre sight of eight Harry Potters, six putting on Harry's clothes, one evidently, the true Harry, and one in Sarah's signature wardrobe, which was going to be uncomfortably tight. Next to them were two Lupins, one in Jess’s clothes, which fit well. I took a position behind them and broadcast out: [I’m here, Sarah to your back left.] Neither moved or spoke.

Mad-Eye explained the remainder of the plan, and I caught that the three of us were headed directly back to the Burrow, while the duplicate Harrys went to other safe-houses, and real Harry was riding with Hagrid. If we got lost we were supposed to follow any of the Order or evacuate. “Backyard, everybody," he concluded. “Now."

When we were assembled, Mad-eye shouted,“Good luck, everyone! See you all in about an hour at the Burrow. On the count of three. One…Two…THREE."

We were off again, silent but for the roar of Hagrid’s bike, on brooms and thestrals, into the evening –

A quarter of a minute after takeoff, cloaked figures descended on brooms, and in moments had us surrounded. Spells started flying, and the evening turned into chaos.

**Chapter 3**

It was too much to take in. I had as much to fear from friendly as enemy fire, I had no idea of enemy strength, and I was bound to lose track of everyone. On instinct, I veered to the right of the pack, behind Moody and his Harry, when, out of the blue, a little diagram with bullet points, as if I were looking at a chalkboard, popped into my head. 17 black dots were situated in a clump in the middle, surrounded by a flying V formation of red dots. The bullet points read:

  * red dots are bad guys

  * keep track of Hagrid, he’s with real Harry

  * Jess, distraction; fly to front, grab their attention, get them to swing wide

  * Lev right wing; I’ll get left; pick them off individually




And as soon as I had read all that, the images disappeared and I was flying in Moody’s wake. Maybe a half second had passed since the vision came.

Christ – Sarah had processed the situation, kept calm, come up with a battle plan, and communicated it in the time it took just to get my bearings. I didn’t understand how she had gathered so much information so quickly, but it wasn’t important. I flew to the right of the Death Eaters, put a pistol in my left hand and a machete into my right. I breathed and waited for Jess’s distraction.

Jess-Lupin appeared two hundred meters ahead, standing stock still, unsupported by any broom, and began to shriek, building up in volume to ear-shattering. She shot out two beams of ice, as thick as cars, aimed just to the inside of what I could see of the Death Eaters’ flying V.

Perfect. Jess probably could have taken out a death eater or two right there if she had chosen a narrower, faster beam; the width meant the energy was further dispersed, rendering it less lethal and easier to counter. But the beams were gigantic, distracting, and loud as hell; the Death Eaters swerved to avoid them and were caught off-guard. We were a-go.

One hooded figure dodged the ice beam – not very good reaction time, I noted – thirty feet ahead, turning to orient on Jess; as he did, I shot him once in the torso and once in the head. The man fell off his broom. The skin and sinew of his body began to disintegrate.

A second Death Eater noticed his companion falling and dove to catch him. His hood fell back, and I saw a balding, bearded man who was as good as going to fly into me. I steadied my breathing and fired three times at his center of mass. The man slumped and dropped his wand. I flew closer, took a solid swing with the machete at his exposed neck, and veered away. Out of my peripheral vision, I watched his head, body, and broom fall in separate trajectories.

The air was quiet. I had lost track of the group. I surged forward, reloaded my gun and broadcast to Sarah and Jess [two down, I’m trying to find the group again now] I got no response, which wasn’t alone a cause for worry. I could hear spells in the distance, and sped up, looking for Hagrid and the real Harry in his sidecar.

Out of a cloud descended Voldermort, a skeletal-thin, spectral man in a black robe with the face of a snake, so full of power the air around him was vibrating. I recognized him from my parents’ memories, but I caught just a glimpse before he was gone, flying without a broomstick and fully visible in the direction I was going. He was easily flying twice as fast as me, which put his speed at close to one hundred and fifty miles an hour. I followed as quickly as I could manage, and perhaps a minute later caught up with Mad-Eye. He was swerving wildly to avoid spells and sending out counter-curses, with one hand around the nape of a squirming Harry. He seemed to be taking on three death eaters simultaneously, at three different distances in three directions, who were swerving just as erratically to avoid Moody’s attacks. I slowed down and leveled a pistol at one of them.

Voldermort shimmered into existence with his wand a foot from the back of Moody’s head. Clone-Harry saw him first, and with a yelp, wriggled free of Moody and disapparated. Moody turned around wildly, and then perceived Voldermort.

“AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldermort screamed. The spell caught Moody head-on, and he was thrown from his broom. In its descent, his body began to burn. Voldermort lingered for perhaps a second to confirm the kill and then bounded forward, invisible again.

The Death Eaters were were still watching Moody fall when I fired. A hooded figure jerked back, letting go of the broom, and I shot again. He fell. As I leveled the gun at his companion, he or she shot a jet of purple light the size of an interior wall in my direction. I had to go low low to avoid it, and by the time I looked up again, I had lost contact.

I sped up again in the direction Voldermort had gone, through a thick cloud. My body shook and my breath was coming in hysterically fast. I judged it likely from just that brief melee that Voldermort was the most powerful wizard I had ever encountered. Pulling off that kind of concealment, at that speed, undoing it for all of a few seconds, and having enough energy left over to kill a man of Moody’s spirit, reaction time and mass was uncharted territory. The clone-Harry had made the right call. Something powerful enough to incinerate the body simply as excess energy would probably have been lethal to anything within ten feet. And Voldermort had withstood that as well.

But his supporters had been unimpressive. They got the drop on us, I thought, and you’ve still taken three out in about 6 minutes. Focus on them. I was in the midst of trying to contact Sarah and Jess when the cloud thinned out, and I found Voldermort again, this time attacking a Harry Potter in a gradually falling motorcycle sidecar. Hagrid was gone, but this was the real Harry. The scene was unfolding quite differently.

With Death Eaters surrounding his back in a semi-circle, Voldermort had his wand outstretched, but the triumphant, vicious look on his face from before was gone, replaced with focus, almost touched by fear. Harry had his wand out, and, looking a little confused, was shooting out something golden and glistening that seemed to be moving its way towards Voldermort’s outstreched wand hand. It was nearly too bright to look at against the evening. The light itself took my breath, some magic I knew nothing of. The universe seemed to contract around it. I couldn’t understand what I was seeing. Or, I realized, hearing.

The light struck Voldermort’s wand, which vibrated violently, and then exploded, knocking him, his allies, me, and the real Harry back. Harry and his sidecar accelerated downwards.

“Your wand Selwyn! Give me your wand!" he screamed, jerking the tool away from a man behind him, but Harry was already out of sight. We must, I realized, be right above a safe house. We had made it. And now I faced a difficult choice of whether to stay and fight, or follow Harry to safety.

I had the AR steadied at my shoulder and was getting ready to open fire as a last distraction when a death eater who hadn’t moved was yanked from their broom, like a cloth puppet on a string, and whipped to the ground. While the Death Eaters reacted to this new development, a hooded man spasmed strangely and fell off his broom; his torso and head became detached from his legs and stomach, and fell separately. The remaining group dispersed and started firing in all directions. Voldermort, undistracted, screamed in fury and flew lower to try to catch Harry. Fifty feet below, he was definitively stymied by an invisible barrier, against which he pushed himself to no avail.

We were done. The barrier had held; the death eaters had dispersed; I had absolutely no chance of taking on Voldermort directly, and I wasn’t keen to use an assault weapon with scattered enemies and unseen allies. I put my hands on the broom and aimed towards the ground. Quickly I saw Harry standing on a patch of grass by a seaside cliff, clutching the giant; the motorcycle lay in ruins nearby. The cries of the Death Eaters trailed further and further away until I couldn’t hear them at all. I landed, but my body gave out, and I found myself looking at the sky, lit by faint lights, like watching fireflies through fogged glass.

**Chapter 4**

I wasn’t sure how long I lay there. I was still feeling terrified, except with the adrenaline fading, it blurred into exhaustion. I thought about Mad-Eye’s burning body. I murmured “esse," and the veil came apart. A man was helping Harry inside the house; as he opened the door, he turned around and caught a first glimpse of me. I put my elbow beneath me and sat up.

“I’m Lev, I know Lupin," I said.

“I know," he replied. “He told me you were coming. I’m Ted Tonks; my wife Andromeda will be out to attend to Hagrid and she can take a look at you as well. Is that…one of ours as well?"

My heart leaped as I looked up; it was the Harry wearing Sarah’s clothes, descending on broom, holding the limp body of Jess-Lupin.

“She’s alive,” Sarah said as she dropped Jess on the ground, falling to her knees beside her. “She needs to sleep now.”

“I called to you."

“I know."

“Voldermort came."

“I know."

“We’re so far out of our league. Did you see him kill Moody?"

“No. But Harry. Harry repelled him."

“I know. I don’t get it."

“I heard. I heard- I don’t know what I heard."

“When he shot the golden light?"

“Yeah."

“I heard. Darren. I think. Talking to me."

Sarah crawled over, dragging Jess by the shoulders, and pulled me in close.

“What does it mean. How could that possibly be."

“I don’t know. I’m so glad you’re alive."

“I’m sorry," Ted inquired. “I must have misheard. Did you say you-know-who appeared?"

His wife had joined him while I was talking to Sarah.

I had caught my breath a bit better than Sarah so I filled them in. When I got to Harry’s magic, my voice caught. Sarah sat up and told the rest. The Tonkses processed the story in relative silence. When we finished, Andromeda walked towards the nearby shore and came back with a bucket full of water, which she splashed in Hagrid’s face. The giant’s eyes flashed open, and as he shook his beard out, he caught sight of Sarah. "Harry?"

“No, I’m Sarah and that’s Jess on the ground looking like Lupin. The real Harry is inside. Alive."

Hagrid pushed himself up and lumbered into the cottage. Andromeda looked down at the unconscious, but now visibly breathing, Jess and asked, “does she need any help?"

“She’s passed out from exhaustion. I’ll wake her up when we need to move."

“Please excuse me, then, dears." Andromeda went inside.

“So," I said to Sarah. “What happened? I got your plan, which was awesome, by the way, and saw Jess shoot the ice beams."

“That’s probably why she passed out. That was energy I don’t think she’d tapped in a long time, and I don’t know if you saw but she actually caught a slow Death Eater on my wing. Turned into an ice block and tumbled. Another death eater went after him, but I shattered the first, and an ice shard pierced the second’s chest. And then I – "

Sarah put her hands in her (Harry’s) hair.

“I took his head off. Fucking Christ, Lev. Why."

“I know. But, we got out. Harry’s alive."

“Yeah. Ok. So. I went visible as a distraction and had a couple engaged, but then one swung back and said, we’ve found the real one!, and they all left me. I caught up just in time to see Harry doing- well. I have no idea what he did. After that I got the coil around another one of their necks and then straight through another of them and then they all scattered. I looped back to get Jess who was basically asleep on her broom, and got here. You?”

“Three confirmed kills. Everything was confusing. I want to go home.”

Sarah put her arm around me. 

“Voldermort," she said, after a few minutes. "From three hundred feet away. It was like. It was like standing next to a volcano. And Harry pushed him off. Is he a God? Does he have outside help?"

“Honestly. Maybe."

“I know it sounds stupid. But could he be?"

“Who knows. At this point it doesn’t matter. He might be a capable adversary. We have to help."

“I know. At all costs."

At that point the potion began to fade, and Sarah showed up where Harry had been, and then it was Jess’s limp body on the ground, sleeping, breathing gently. Sarah sat down by her head and began singing some of the healing spells we knew, while I rubbed her arms and shoulders down. Two of her right fingers were broken, which I set and worked on restoring energy into. My own power was ebbing back. A while later, Jess roused and clambered into Sarah’s lap. We sat with her, stroking her hair, until Ted Tonks came outside.

“Excuse me. The Portkey is leaving in three minutes. Harry is fine, if you’d like to join us inside and travel to the Burrow."

Jess was in no state to walk independently, but we put our arms around her and ambled to the house.

“How many?" Jess asked.

“How many what?"

“How many Death Eaters did you kill?"

“I got four, and it sounds like Lev got three. You?"

“Four."

“We may be double-counting. Sarah disassembled one that you froze."

“Ok. So ten in total. How many casualties?"

“I saw Mad-Eye go down– "

“me too – "

“and other than that we don’t know."

“Ok. Did you feel Voldermort?"

“Yeah."

“We have no chance. None."

“Did you see what Harry did?"

“Vaguely."

“He fended him off. He broke Voldermort’s wand. None of us could have done that. "

“Jesus."

“He might be."

“What?"

“He might be Jesus. At this point it’s as likely as anything else."

By then we were in the house, and cut the conversation short; Mr. Tonks pointed us towards a bedroom, where we found Hagrid and Harry holding onto a brush.

“Wait a moment," Hagrid said, looking around. “Harry, where’s Hedwig?"

“She…she got hit."

“Who was Hedwig?" I asked.

“My owl," he said.

Hagrid reached out a great hand and comforted him. The hairbrush began to glow.

All of us clutched it, and were transported onto hard ground, in the shadow of that same tall, ramshackle house. We were back in the Burrow.

**Chapter 5**

As I got my bearings, two red-headed women approached us.

“Harry? You are the real Harry? What happened? Where are the others?" said the woman I presumed to be Mrs. Weasley. 

“What d’you mean? Isn’t anyone else back?" Harry panted. Mrs. Weasley had no answer, and soon went inside to get Hagrid some liquor. The younger redhead started going over who should have already arrived, taking barely any notice of us ("friends," Harry said, gesturing vaguely; I suspected he had forgotten our names. "Ginny," she replied). A lot of people were missing and two, they hoped, would come soon.

Mrs. Weasley reappeared carrying a bottle of brandy, which she handed to Hagrid. He uncorked it and drank it straight down.

“Mum!" shouted Ginny, pointing to a spot several feet away that was now turning into blue light and then into two men: Lupin and a redhead covered in blood. Harry gasped and helped Lupin carry him in the house, where he was laid down on a sofa. He had lost an ear.

“Nobody move," Lupin said abruptly, pushing Harry against a wall of the house with his wand out.

“What creature sat in the corner the first time that Harry Potter visited my office at Hogwarts?"

"A a grindylow in a tank, wasn’t it?"

Lupin released Harry and pointed the wand at me.

“The distinct mark on the animal Lev Stadler changed into the first time we ran together."

“The patch of gray fur on my Grizzly bear transformation’s left hind leg, a larger version of a burn-scar I got in 95, Lupin," I said. Satisfied, he pointed his wand at Jess next. 

“I don’t know the questions to ask you two. Lev, ask, please."

I looked at Jess.

[Over their bones, loved one] she sent.

I looked at Sarah.

[The land will recall long after we’re gone.]

I nodded, and Lupin lowered his wand. The three of us oriented on him.

“Remus," I asked, “how did my mother swing attending the Naval Academy?"

“Enchantment to look male. Activated whenever she was around the Muggles."

Jess put her gun away.

“Wha’ was that about?" Hagrid asked.

“I’m sorry, but I had to check," Lupin said. “We’ve been betrayed. Voldermort knew that you were being moved tonight, and the only people who could have told him were directly involved in the plan. You might have been an impostor."

“None of the Order would have told Voldermort we were moving tonight," said Harry. “Voldermort only caught up with me toward the end, he didn’t know which one I was in the beginning. If he’d been in on the plan he’d have known from the start I was the one with Hagrid."

“Voldermort caught up with you?” asked Lupin. “What happened? How did you escape?"

It came out that Harry had used a disarming spell on a man he knew to be imperiused, and that the Death Eaters recognized him because of it. Lupin was aghast; I saw Harry’s reasoning, and respected his thinking of others in the heat of combat, but there seemed like an open question remaining.

“Harry," I interrupted, “whether or not you should have disarmed or killed this guy is sort of a moot point; you survived, that’s what counts. But why didn’t you use a silent incantation?"

“What?" he replied, looking surprised that I had spoken.

“Why did you say expelliarmus out loud?"

“Well, I, I forgot, I guess,” he said. “And anyways don’t you lose some power when you use a silent spell?"

Based on Harry’s reaction of evident dislike, I think my jaw must have dropped pretty far, and Jess gave an unbelieving little cough beside me; Sarah, sounding a little confused, said, “well, if you haven’t practiced it then I suppose so, but –“

Before she could finish the thought, there came a scuffling noise from outside, and the three of us walked outside as quickly as Jess could manage to find Kingsley and the girl called Hermione clutching a small coat hanger. As Hermione ran to hug Harry, Lupin and Kinglsey raised their wands in unison, as Kingsley barked: “The last words Albus Dumbledore ever spoke to the pair of us."

“Harry is the best hope we have. Trust him," Lupin said, at which point both men lowered their wands. Kingsley verified that he’d checked Hermione and then recounted his version of events, saying he “might’ve killed one" which, if my count was right, put our casualty count at 11 to 1. In all this, I hadn’t had the chance to say that Moody had died; I assumed the others knew by now, but first everyone seemed to want to tell their own story. Harry took the opportunity to attend to Hagrid, who had become stuck in the door, and then went inside again. A moment later, two more redheaded people, a father and a son, came by, holding a rag. Lupin went over to speak to them, and in moments they went charging for the door.

“Arthur, Fred, stop!" cried Kingsley, moving in front of them. “We’ve been compromised. Arthur, the first muggle enchantment of yours the Ministry investigated?"

“I’ll prove who I am, Kingsley, after I’ve seen my son, now back off if you know what’s good for you!" Arthur sounded furious, and Kingsley seemed unsure of whether to step aside, but Sarah had already moved into the doorway with her hand outstretched. Arthur and Fred ran into an invisible barrier and bounced off. Sarah withdrew a wand and a pistol from her pockets and pointed them at the men. Jess stood behind her and put her hands at her sides. The Weasleys froze.

“I’m sorry, Arthur," Sarah said, “but there’s a reason for the protocol. Moody is dead, but George is going to live. Please answer Kingsley’s question."

Fred looked momentarily mutinous, but Arthur breathed and said, “a small vacuum cleaner that purred when it came near dirt," at which Kingsley nodded, and Sarah pointed her wand at Fred.

Kingsley paused, and it occurred to me that he might not have a question ready for Fred. This posed a conundrum, but evidently Hermione had figured out the situation as well, and asked, “Fred, who are the four authors of the Marauder’s map?"

“Wormtail, Moony, Padfoot and Prongs," he replied promptly. Hermione nodded, and Sarah lowered both weapons and stepped aside.

“Sorry about that."

Fred rushed past her and into the house with his injured brother, followed quickly by Hermione.

As Kingsley asked Sarah about Moody, Ron and Tonks came crashing down on a broom. Hermione seemed eager to greet her friend (loved one? Hermione and Ron looked like a couple, now that I thought about it), but at a pointed "ahem" from Sarah, we went through another round of identity questions. They were catching up when the scarred redhead and the beautiful woman descended on thestral. Kingsley asked them something I couldn’t hear, and they responded while dismounting.

“Mad-Eye’s dead," Bill said, looking grim. By that point, everyone but Fred was outside, and those who hadn’t heard Sarah took the news badly as he recounted things from his vantage point. Tonks cried as Bill spoke. His voice cracked and regained strength. Hermione held Ron for support. And Jess –

Jess started to shake in what I recognized as fury. Mad-Eye and her parents had been close. He had been at both funerals. They had talked about grief over the years. Especially at her mother’s, she had latched onto him hard. I was still feeling too exhausted to say anything coherent, but Jess asked Bill, “and how many of them did you kill?"

“Excuse me?"

“I said, how many of them did you kill?"

“Well, I stunned a few. We were heavily outnumbered."

“So were we, Bill. And we killed ten. And now we’re going to kill the rest of them. They’re above here? Right now?"

Nobody said anything. A few people took some steps back from Jess, possibly because she had begun reloading her weapons, and possibly because they may have heard the faint humming around her, like a machine warming up. This was dangerous. As I contemplated my options, Sarah walked over and put her hand on Jess’s elbow.

“Jessica," she said. “We’re going to. Every one of them. But not tonight. First of all you’re exhausted. You might get one before you run out of juice and then you’re dead. Second, we actually have no idea where they are. We lost Voldermort miles and miles from here. Please come inside. We’ll have something to eat."

For a second, Jess looked like she was going to strike Sarah, but the humming faded as her posture relaxed. She holstered the weapons and Sarah guided her inside, followed quickly by Mrs. Weasley and Tonks. There was a moment of confused silence.

“What the eff was that about?" Ron asked.

“That," Lupin said, “was the kind of rage that changes the world. I’d known she was dangerous, but did any of you see her up there?"

“I did," Fleur said. “It was horrible."

“And what exactly do you mean by that?"I said.

Bill answered. “We saw her put what looked like a full clip into Williams, and _then_ she beheaded him. And the way she _laughed_. I’m going to have nightmares. Lupin, are you sure the girl is sane?"

“No, I am not," he said, “and I also wish I had never heard my own voice make that sound. But she’s formidable, you heard her. She killed ten Death Eaters, Bill, during a surprise attack."

“Excuse me, but no," I said, “she didn't, she killed four, that's ten between us Americans. And what'd you guys get? One, maybe, from Kingsley? I'm sorry, is this a game to you? Moody wouldn't -" 

My voice caught as I pictured Mad-Eye falling again; I walked away from the group mid-sentence and threw up. Lupin came over and stayed with me for a while. When I felt better we went inside. The group was toasting Mad-Eye with a round of whiskey. Jess was looking better. Sarah was as inscrutable as always, her arm around Jess’s shoulders. I smiled at them.

“So Mundungus disappeared?" asked Lupin.

“I know what you’re thinking,” said Bill. “And I wondered that too, on the way back here, because they seemed to be expecting us, didn’t they? But Mundungus can’t have betrayed us. They didn’t know there would be seven Harrys, that confused them the moment we appeared, and in case you’ve forgotten, it was Mundungus who suggested that little bit of skulduggery. Why wouldn’t he have told them the essential point? I think Dung panicked, it’s as simple as that. He didn’t want to come in the first place, but Mad-Eye made him, and You-Know-Who went straight for them. It was enough to make anyone panic."

I did not think much of Bill's logic. If I wanted to play both sides of a war, I might betray a team but deliberately omit a key detail to remain in both groups’ good books. In my opinion, pretty much everyone here was potentially at fault except for the three of us, Harry, Mad-Eye, Lupin, and Kingsley. Harry had seemed genuinely surprised by the plan, we Americans knew the plan only in broad contours, and only those three veterans showed any concern for protocol at all. People who weren’t neurotic about safety protocol made errors. Sometimes those errors resulted in deaths.

“No," said Harry. “I mean…if somebody made a mistake, and let something slip, I know they didn’t mean to do it. It’s not their fault. We’ve got to trust each other. I trust all of you, I don’t think anyone in this room would ever sell me to Voldermort."

That produced a moment of silence in which I reappraised Harry. He had performed some of the most amazing magic I had ever seen against Voldermort. He had also shown a stunning lack of comfort with silent incantation. But here was something new: leadership. He seemed to have said the right thing at the right time.

As Harry made some motions towards leaving, I processed that Dumbledore had evidently told Lupin and Kingsley that Harry was “our best hope." I thought I could get on board with that. I caught up with the conversation again when Hagrid said, “wait till it gets out yeh did it again, Harry. Escaped him, fought him off when he was right on top of yeh!"

“It wasn’t me," Harry said. “It was my wand. My wand acted of its own accord."

“That’s plausible," Jess said, but the rest of the crowd didn’t seem to believe him. Growing frustrated, Harry excused himself and moved outside. Ron and Hermione exchanged a glance and followed a minute later. The three of us soon followed. We caught Harry at the tail end of explaining something, and approached quietly. They didn’t notice us.

“And then he was torturing Ollivander, saying that he lied about the connection between the two wands!"

Hermione gasped and said, “but it was supposed to have stopped! Your scar – it wasn’t supposed to do this anymore! You mustn’t let that connection open up again – Dumbledore wanted you to close your mind!"

At that point, Ron saw us hovering nearby and muttered a warning; the three of them turned to face us, moving into somewhat defensive posture, as if we’d caught them doing something illicit for which they didn’t plan to apologize. We held our ground and looked at them for a bit.

“What do you three want?" Ron asked.

“Um," I said. Sarah jumped in.

“A few things. First of all, Harry, when you say your wand acted of its own accord, I believe you. We saw that spell. It was something like none of us had ever seen. We heard something, something strange in it."

She seemed to be searching for words at that.

I continued. “Harry, a few things about us. First, Voldermort has allies in North America, and we’re part of a group that fights them. They killed Jess’s dad when we were babies. Coming up on two years ago, they attacked again, and they killed Jess’s mom and, someone I loved very dearly. Darren. I haven’t heard his voice in a long time, except in my memories. When you fended off Voldermort, I heard him. That’s enough. That wandwork. I have no idea what you did, but I think you can win this. So you’ve got me, Harry, you’ve got my full loyalty. I’d swear it on anything you’d want me to."

“As would I," Sarah said, moving into an honest-to-god kneel.

“And me," Jess said.

We hadn’t planned that, but it had quite the effect on the three of them. Hermione looked flustered, and Ron simply bewildered. Harry recovered first.

“Well, thanks I guess."

Sarah stood up again. “So you have visions of Voldermort’s mind?"

The three of them exchanged a guarded glance at which Jess scoffed.

“‘Oh please. It’s completely obvious from what we just heard. And he was torturing someone?"

“Yes," Harry said.

“What about? The wand thing? Guess that validates your hypothesis huh?"

The three of them said nothing. Sarah touched our shoulders and took a step back.

“Ok. We understand. You don’t trust us. That’s probably wise. You don’t have to tell us about it. We won’t tell anyone else if you’d prefer. We’re going to set up our tent out here, as the house looks a bit crowded, we’re too tired to apparate home safely, and Death Eaters might still be watching the perimeter. So, if you’ll excuse us."

We walked away. As Jess started to unpack the tent, Ron blurted out: “did you really kill ten death eaters?"

I turned around, and saw something like hunger on his face. It wasn’t attractive, and I weighed possible responses.

“You’re goddamned right we did," Jess said.

“How?" he asked.

“I killed one with an ice beam, shot two, and disintegrated another."

“I blew up Jess’s death-eater popsicle, and did something equally unpleasant with the wire I told you about to three more," Sarah said.

“I shot one, decapitated another, and shot a third," I said.

They didn’t say anything to this, and we started to walk again.

“Was it your first time?" he asked.

“First time doing what?" Jess asked.

“Fighting. Really fighting."

“No," Sarah said, “unfortunately not. For any of us."

“…Could you teach us?"

“How to fight?" Jess said.

“Yeah. We…well I stunned one but the whole thing was a bit of a mess. I’d like to know how to defend myself. You know, like you did."

I don’t think any of us was surprised by this. But, I thought, who am I to judge? Until I’d actually done it, I had thought combat would be the greatest experience of my life. Let him learn.

“Absolutely," I said. "We can start tomorrow."

And with that, the three of us walked away, and set up the tent. 1:05, my watch said. We’d left home 6 hours ago.

**Chapter 6**

**Jess’s diary**

07-31-97 11:34 p.m.

They’re so different than us. I just can’t believe they can’t reliably fly and get invisible. The two greatest things about magic and they need a cloak and a broom? It’s nuts.

But something else here. Everyone’s been so nice to them, and I guess Harry and Hermione grew up with non-wizards. So maybe that’s a good excuse. But Ron – man. What were his parents thinking? They didn’t give him any kind of training, assumed school would take care of it. Kid can’t do a shield spell without a wand to save his life. Literally, perhaps. I was just throwing rocks but I can’t imagine he’d do better against a gun. Any of them, if I fired and they didn’t have a wand in their hand and already pointed at me, they’d be dead.

And all the rich things they’ve foregone. I think they’ve never walked around the Met by themselves at night, never swum with dolphins. Hermione said she typically paid for movies. I just could not believe it.

And the way they looked at me, when I told them that yes, this was how our crew trained us, with things that would hurt, that was the point, that we started as children. That’s why we’re flawless now! When we practiced flying out in the cliffs, I thought my mom would catch me, but she didn’t, slowed me down enough that I’d survive. I broke everything that first time. She healed me. I was 7, 8? I didn’t hate her. I hope I didn’t hate her.

Ron, Hermione, Harry – I’m coming for you. I want you to live. I want it more than anything. I’d beat you to death to get there.

I knew Sarah was pushing the boundaries. And it took me time to put the pieces together. But she was too fast over Harry’s house, getting the plan to us. I asked her about it. She said, she had looked the laws up, if she doesn’t stop/go backwards in time she thinks the wards won’t go off, so she’s just slowing the flow, or, making herself move faster or something. I don’t really get it. Said it’s too much effort to focus her mind on combat or spells when she’s moving hyperspeed for now, so no instantaneous violence just yet. But when she can: man. I’m not going to lecture her on the risks, she’s a smart cookie. It’s kind of a risk writing it down. I wonder when she’ll tell Lev. I guess if all three of us ate it the book’s defenses would come undone but at that point, who cares?

Oh my son, Absalom. Little one, please don’t tear the fabric. We’ve lost enough. 11:56

**Part II: Hogwarts**

_“You wear out, Ed Tom. All the time you spend tryin to get back what’s been took from you there’s more goin out the door. After a while you just try and get a tourniquet on it." – No Country For Old Men_

**Chapter 7**

**Sarah**

The four days of training Harry and his friends before the wedding very pretty nice, and then the Death Eaters killed the Minister of Magic and invaded Bill and Fleur’s wedding, which was not so nice. The day before she took her boys and scrammed, Hermione finally approached me to talk privately. After dinner, we walked through the local village. 

Things had briefly gone south between Ron and Lev in training. While practicing wandless apparition, we had noticed that Ron was just keeping his wand up his sleeve. So Lev had picked Ron up by the throat, taken his wand, and, once the wand was pocketed, hit Ron hard enough to break his nose and knock him to the ground, at which point Lev had screamed at him for not taking the mission seriously, gesticulating with a loaded gun. Jess had led Lev away, but not before telling Ron, who was sobbing, to stop being such a fucking baby. Hermione had looked shocked, and I had expected her to want to talk about it. But her particular questions surprised me.

“You haven’t identified yourself," she said, “except by first name. I assume that was intentional?"

“No," I said. “I just figured the names wouldn’t mean anything."

“Can I take a guess then? Are you with the Stadler-Li crew?"

“Yes," I said, surprised. “Lev is Lev Stadler. His grandfather Lucas and Patricia Li are the namesakes. How did you know?"

“A guess. How many wizard militias can there be in America?"

“More than you’d think, but yes, we’re the main one. What do you know about us?"

“I know …listen, Sarah, there are some mentions of you all in the histories of magical Britain, and I don’t have anything written in the past few years, but what I do have is, you might say, very unflattering to you all. And there are weird discrepancies between accounts, but I’ve…what I’ve gathered is that after World War II, after Grindelwald and Hitler teamed up, the wizards got together and decided on magical neutrality in muggle politics. And you all are the enforcers. But everything surrounding that agreement is super oblique."

“Yeah," I said. “That’s not really about the deal but what came before. Grindelwald had command of a pretty large segment of German forces. And he’d enchanted them to go berserk at a word. Dumbledore was the one to take the man himself out. Some prophecy or something. But he had to get through Grindelwald troops first. So he called Patricia and Lucas, who’d been neutral to that point. Whatever deal they struck with Dumbledore, it worked, and the two of them got a team together and wiped out probably 30,000 Axis troops getting Dumbledore into place. When the dust settled, I think the wizards decided they’d prefer to chalk it all up to the Allies, so the whole thing got called the Battle of Berlin and hushed."

“And …after the war?" she asked.

“Well, after Japan surrendered, the wizards got together at Yalta to figure things out, and Lucas and Patricia were holding a lot of the bargaining chips. Dumbledore was telling anyone who’d listen that he’d fought his last battle and was going to teach for the rest of his life, so he sat that one out. No one talks about it, but I think Lucas all but explicitly threatened that if the non-American powers didn’t go along with his way of things by cooperation, they would be going along by force. He had Truman’s full support and people were really frightened of the bomb at that point. Not to mention Patricia and her coterie were backing him up, so that was that."

“Anyway, so, they came up with some rules. No horcruxes, no time travel, no seeking control of Muggle affairs, and no coercing or killing muggles except to enforce the Statute of Secrecy. Wizard vs. wizard affairs were left to individual countries to deal with. Magical Britain is a nominal signatory to those accords, but you all carved out some really serious limits to international involvement and surveillance, which is probably why Voldermort almost won in the late 70s. We would have killed him in the 60s if the laws had been more permissive. Almost got him in Albania. Does this jive with what you’ve read?"

“Basically. So, someone had to enforce these rules, and Lucas nominated himself to do it?"

“That’s my impression, yes. Lucas is a smart guy, but he’s no politician, and I think he recognized that policing was his calling. So the wizards set up the Council of Supervisors in Geneva, and Lucas and Patricia put together a team to bully people into following the rules. Patricia brought my grandparents in. I’m three generations Stadler-Li and proud, Hermione."

“And …who guards you? Who watches the watchmen Sarah?"

“Huh. What do the books say?"

“Nothing. That’s the thing. I have a history of 20th century magical Britain and the chapter seems to trail off right when it gets there. The book all but calls you neo-imperialist, hegemonic tyrants and then hints that something even worse keeps you in check."

“That… is remarkably close to the truth. Listen, when you need a complex task accomplished, like monitoring compliance with lengthy and specific laws and enforcing those laws with a minimum of civilian casualties, human intelligence is unparalleled. But if you need to just kill someone, no questions asked, no other considerations important, you’re better off contracting out. So, if one of us breaks the rules, we can look forward to facing down one of the truly ancient demons. It wouldn’t be fun. There would be destruction for miles. Once they get a hold of you, it would probably be death for everyone they could find you closely associating with in your memories. It’s a pretty strong disincentive if there is anything in the world you value."

“Oh my God," Hermione said.

“Yeah. That’s why that didn’t make its way into the books. Horcrux spell is hard to detect, but time spells aren’t. Nobody I know messes with either. Except of course you Brits who carved out an exception for Ministry-regulated time-turners before team Harry threw that all to shit. Thank you for that, by the way."

“Um," she said. “You’re welcome. Ok. I think I can fill in the answer to this. But I figured I’d ask. That same book implies that you all went rogue in the 1980s. The author, Bagshot, she quotes some anonymous politician who calls you "war criminals." Something about executing Death Eaters after Voldermort died?"

“You as much as know the whole story," I said. “One of ours, Liz Loew, got a crew together to target folks who we were dead sure had tortured or killed non-wizards of their own volition. That meant going after a lot of them in their homes, and a few pretty prominent people got axed. And their spouses. When the Ministry made a fuss about it, Liz went to discuss the issue with then-Minister Bagnold and took along a fairly high-ranking member of the Reagan Department of Defense. Afterwards the whole thing got reclassified as joint operations and then squashed."

We walked in silence for a while.

“So," she said. “Darren."

“Yes."

“Do you want to tell me about it?"

“No," I said. “I don’t want to at all. But I will. Darren Joseph Loew was a member of our crew, Lev’s best friend and for a little while his boyfriend, one year older than us, who got killed in combat two years ago, the same day as Jess’s mom."

“So, we have main two groups of enemies. The first are some wizards who think that World War II and the onset of the Cold War demonstrated that non-wizards could not be trusted with nuclear firepower, and should be controlled. That was mostly a political dispute though. And then, back when Voldermort started taking over, we learned that Grindelwald's second-in-command, an American named Jonathan Putnam, hadn’t died, but had been underground and had allied with Voldermort. And then he got a lot of those dissenters on board with taking down Geneva and us. It was pretty close to coming to World War, but when Voldermort bit it, a lot of the more moderate folks surrendered."

“But not Putnam. We skirmished with him for about twenty years. Coming on 15 years ago, Jess’s dad died in combat. And then, August 12th, 95, we had a traitor who led him and a strike team in: trained military, Dementors, Giants, wizards, the works."

“Putnam went after a training class first, that Darren and a few others were in, and his soldiers got Jess’s mom. The three of us had been out training with Lev’s mom, and when we got called back, it was a massive firefight. We had a plan for this kind of thing, and the adults moved into defensive spots we’d carved out, shut the enemies’ escape lines down, and got the children into a heavily armored underground bunker that could withstand the next best thing to nuclear war. It was our safest spot, so we brought all the wounded and dead there. Darren’s dad brought his body in, and Jess’s mom got dragged in. Valerie died there, with us. We all watched it."

“And Jess went ballistic. She doesn’t remember the rest so well, but I, I do. She got up. Blew the door off the shelter, flew straight up, and brought down a fireball from nowhere the size of a comet on Putnam’s crew. Took about three seconds, and pretty much everybody ran for the hills except Putnam. He tried to hold the thing off with his hands. Incinerated instantly, along with a few of the giants and the dementors, a bunch of wizards and maybe two dozen of his non-wizard gunmen who couldn’t run fast enough. And the fire kept pursuing a lot of Putnam’s team, like it was sentient or something. Not fiendfyre. Some unprecedented spell. I personally think it was divine intervention but we really have no idea."

“Anyway after that Jess fell to the ground, and we thought she was dead, and then the rest of the crew went pretty berserk too, all rules of engagement out the window. Everything gets a little fuzzy there but I know that Lev and I beelined for Jess’s body and dragged her back to the shelter and tried to revive her."

“She was dead, no heartbeat. Can’t really describe what we did but we brought her back. Later my mom told me that the best healers are people who love you, or, that the spells we wove didn’t have to be the most sophisticated if we were willing to give her some of our souls. Well, Jess came back soon enough and she woke up the next day, and ever since our telepathy has been the next best thing to infallible."

“It was hard to get precise counts, but we know we lost twelve that day, and killed over a hundred. Zero prisoners on either side. Jess’s mom was sort of a leader, and really well liked, and Darren’s parents, Jordan and Liz Loew, well…they acted quickly. Got everyone on board with going on the offensive. The two of them leaned on their contacts in the special forces and they got a unit deployed for operations in Central America, Southeast Asia. Rumor is they got a contingent of vampires in on it too, and a few of the vampire elders, who are the next best thing to Gods if you’re taking out a complex. We got word that they killed quite a few civilians in the process of looking for Putnam’s horcrux, or horcruxes for that matter, we have no idea, and supporters. And we don’t know what price the vampires asked, but the Loews paid it. Jordan came back, alone, months later, to one of our weekend retreats, completely mum on the subject. The adults discussed it and asked him to leave. I haven’t seen him since, and we haven’t been attacked since."

“That sounds horrible, Sarah," Hermione said. “I’m so sorry. And I’m sorry for this next question too, but I think I need to ask it. After the battle over Harry’s house, people are wary of Jess, but I like her. She’s a great teacher. But Lev scares me. Look, I know Ron can be a bit of an ass. But for a second there yesterday I actually feared for his life. Are they sane? Can I trust them?"

This was an altogether more difficult question. I paused and thought it over.

“For all three of us," I said, “I’d lean towards no on sane and yes on trustworthy. As I said, I don’t remember rescuing Jess very well, but I killed a woman en route, at hideously close distance, and I think the medical term for what I’ve been experiencing since is PTSD-induced flashbacks. And Jess and Lev – for the first year after the attack, when they couldn’t sleep, they liked to apparate to city slums, with one of them posing as an easy victim and the other lurking in the shadows to see who would take the bait."

“But," I said, “Hermione, I am stake-my-life sure of their personal loyalty to me, and now that we’ve sworn to Harry, to him as well. We’ve really been through it together. We’re not good for everything, but if you need coordinated violence, a distraction or something, we’re world class, and we’re yours."

Hermione was quiet as we walked back.

“Where are you going next year?" I asked.

“I can’t say."

“Ok. Is there anything you need from us?"

“I can’t think of anything yet."

"Is there any chance I can convince you to leave Ron and take me or Jess instead?" 

"No, I'm sorry. It has to be the three of us. That's how Dumbledore wanted it." 

Ok. I understand. We'll be at Hogwarts, be in touch if you need something." 

"Thank you, I will." 

When we got back to the house, we hugged and parted ways.

The next night, as Kingsley’s Patronus interrupted the wedding and Death Eaters stormed the place, Hermione grabbed her friends and bailed. The girl moved nearly as quickly as I did, so there was no need to break character to cover their exit. We had been in disguises anyway, so we just sat there finishing off entrees of the departed as Death Eaters came and went, blathering on about some fugitive.

After that there wasn’t much to do at the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley fretted that the three were gone, but everyone else seemed to have known it was coming. We packed up our belongings and headed back to our camp that night.

The next morning at breakfast, we were quite a hit. Lupin had traveled the distance the day after our first lesson with the kids and given everyone a general impression of what was happening, but they wanted the details. With everyone gathered at the communal table in our main hall, Jess stood up and recounted. Younger kids applauded.

Afterwards we discussed some of the situation’s more delicate particulars with a small group, us three seated at the table and the adults standing around us. My parents were pretty shaken by the whole thing; each had a hand on my shoulder as Nate Miller asked us what we thought the three kids were up to.

“They’ve got some mission they won’t tell us about," I said. “We think they’re going after Voldemort’s horcruxes. They departed the wedding like they had previously discussed exit strategy."

“And you don’t think you could track them?" Ari Stadler, Lev’s dad, asked.

Lev answered. “We probably could but we don’t want to. They’ve got some work, they don’t want to tell us about it, and I think we're in like, prophecy territory. You should have seen Harry fend off Voldermort. It was freaking awesome."

“In the biblical sense," Jess appended. "And besides, if they don’t want Lupin or Arthur, they must have some reason to travel light."

“So," my dad said, “that leaves us in a tricky spot. If you can’t track Potter directly, how can you best be of use next year?"

“I’ve been thinking about that," Lev said. “Harry’s ex-girlfriend is going back to Hogwarts. If he tries to get in touch with anyone, it’s probably going to be her. Plus, you think the Death Eaters are going to be active next year in the school itself right? I say we stick to the original plan and go to Hogwarts. We’ve already gotten the Parkinson relative confounded. I think we can be pretty useful there."

Lev was deliberately underselling the case. The moment the wedding hubbub had died, we had conferenced and agreed this was best; Jess was dead set on it. “Anything to be with the Death Eaters again,” she had said. “Oh what I’m going to do to them."

Nate and Lev’s mom nodded immediately. Nate chimed in, “I agree with your reasoning, and we would indeed benefit from an undercover group there. Do you feel ready?"

“No," I admitted. “Or, it depends. What’s Voldemort’s next move? If he’s at school, none of us – and in my opinion, no one in this camp – is a match. But the rest of his subordinates, mostly they’ve been underwhelming. We could handle them if it came to."

“It doesn’t really matter," Lev said. “We swore to protect Harry. We don’t know best how to do that yet. But getting close to his loved ones is pretty good until we know more."

No one spoke for a moment.

“As to Voldemort’s next move," my mom said, “we can be pretty sure it won’t be something as overt as taking over at the school. As far as we can tell, he has no interest in the day to day management of an institution. Dumbledore shared with us that Voldemort does love Hogwarts like nowhere else, however, and he may return. He’s such an enigma. I don’t know guys. This makes me uncomfortable."

We let the conversation wear on in that vein for a while, but eventually the three of us stopped speaking and waited for the pro-Hogwarts camp to persuade the holdouts. Jess had no one to speak for her and at 18, was essentially treated as an equal; Lev’s mom seemed to have the upper-hand on his dad, and once it was clear that the two of them were going, my parents looked at each other and sighed. We had been training cooperatively for just such an occasion since we were children. If the two of them were going, so was I. That was that. The last compromise my mother wrestled from us was we spend at least one more month training seriously on defense, escape and healing. All of us agreed.

The next four weeks were grueling. If we’d been allowed to focus on developing our strong suits before, that was over. Lev had to start operating without veils, relying on brute firepower against rotating teams of adults. They gave Jess complex, ambiguous situations to navigate, like rescuing hostages in silence with minimal losses and no offensive magic permitted. And my dad started testing just how much power I could focus on one spot, one day trying to direct enough wind to knock a tree down, another trying to augment my strength enough to move boulders.

The answer, at least in my case, was a lot. Fully charged up and for a brief moment, I could get enough power in one place to be about two orders of magnitude more powerful than a normal human my size. At that point we worked on sustaining a slightly lower intensity of effort for longer periods, and I grew comfortable throwing things that weighed a few tons and not immediately fainting. And if my dad could summon up maybe twice as much physical force for the same period, it didn’t really matter; both of us were way past the threshold to kill a person with our hands, and I was faster. Lev and Jess reported similar progress.

On September 1st, we made our way to the Hogwarts express. Platform 9¾ seemed divided between two distinct groups: one in green robes and their parents, looking celebratory or at the very least smug, and another in all sorts of colors, casting scared glances at the green group. So Voldemort’s crew, or those who wanted to be, and everybody else.

Pretty soon, we saw Ginny Weasley accompanied by her entire family. Ginny almost made a move of recognition, but Arthur stood directly in her way before she could do so. If we were going to try to pass as potential Voldemort allies, an overt greeting from a Harry-Potter-known-accomplice wouldn’t be too helpful. She got the hint soon enough and joined a gaggle of people congregating around a tall, sort of pudgy kid who looked grim.

Following the whistle, the three of us moved inside and piled into the first empty car we could find. We were in jeans, sneakers and t-shirts, Jess with a leather jacket, me in denim, Lev in a hooded sweatshirt. I guess we didn’t look too threatening, because soon enough a bunch of young, nervous children had joined us. We grabbed the window seats but otherwise didn’t interact with them. Jess and Lev watched the countryside pass in silence while I knitted.

A few hours passed before a mean-looking kid with gelled blonde hair came by, slid the door open and sneered, “all right, brats, get your robes on, we’re nearly there."

“We haven’t got any robes," Jess said conversationally, turning to look at him.

“What? Who the hell are you?"

“Jess. My friends, Lev and Sarah. We’re 7th years. Transfers. Who are you?"

“Draco Malfoy. And how come you haven’t gotten any robes? Do they go to school naked where you come from?"

“No you little dipshit," Lev smiled, “we go in pants and shirts like normal humans."

[We’re trying to make no enemies] I silently warned.

[Do you recognize the last name? His family is in disgrace. Lupin told us about him].

The exchanged happened in microseconds but we might as well have talked aloud for how slow the poor kid was reacting.

“Do you. Do you…" he stammered. “Do you know who I am?"

“Hopefully leaving," Jess said, as she lifted one hand, gave a little come hither motion and then a push in the air, at which point Draco was jerked off his feet, pulled slightly towards her, and firmly shoved by what looked like an invisible person. He landed ungracefully in the corridor. Lev completed the routine with a small sliding motion, which shut the door from his perch by the window. Draco scrammed. I looked at the two of them, mouth agape.

So, I realized, did all the rest of the kids in the cabin, who were now cowering towards the door. Two little girls who had just met were clutching each other.

“Sorry about that," Jess said to them. “That had nothing to do with you. You really should put on your robes though, I think I see the castle from here."

“You guys," I said. “Are so fucking stupid sometimes. What was the point of that?"

“I don’t know," Lev said. “Felt good though." [And besides, establishes a don’t-mess reputation at the expense of someone whom the rest of the Death Eaters hold in low esteem.]

[That was a stupid risk dude. I’m not worried about him, obviously, but who knows what allegiance he commands?]

To that, Lev just shrugged and looked out the window. Jess looked at him, and he laughed. I was stung. They were having a private, silent conversation right in front of me. I couldn’t remember the last time it had happened.

Over the next few hours, I saw that Lev and Jess might have made a not-terrible call, or lucked into one. Off the train, the power structures were obvious. A group of adolescents in green robes filed ahead of everyone else and into thestral-drawn carriages. Draco held back, responsible for ushering the little ones off the train, a task at which he was a prick. Jess waved at him at one point, as we filed into the mass of upper-grade students in miscellaneous robes, and he paled, looking away.

No one would talk to us. People were sorting into cliques, and most looked muted. Professors were coming down from the entrance-way to escort students into school. We briefly saw Hagrid, but he made no gesture of acknowledgement.

The castle itself was opulent and foreboding from the outside, but I quite liked how it looked in the late afternoon sunlight. I took a moment to survey the grounds. They were huge. We’d have all the room in the world we needed to train, to explore, to just be by ourselves. This could be lovely.

A nasty looking adult started yelling something about how we needed to move it, and soon enough we were escorted into a giant dining hall. This was a moment of tricky etiquette, but I flagged down a professor.

“Excuse me ma’am?"

“Yes young lady?" she replied before fully taking us in. When she did, she gave a small nod.

“Ah yes. You three must be the Americans. As to where to sit, you can join the first years until the sorting," she said, pointing to a table with the smallest children.

She leaned forward and spoke quietly.

“Moony gives his regards."

Jess smiled.

“Thank you,” I replied. “Are you Minerva McGonagall?"

[Indeed. Mr. Stadler and Ms. Lahiri, I know your parents by reputation, and Ms. Smith, I had the honor of meeting yours many times. Now run along.]

I relaxed. My parents had said that though we had allies inside, it was best to let them take the lead on establishing contact. This one had. She looked like a tough customer too; everyone, green-robes or otherwise, gave her a fair berth as she walked to the long table of teachers, taking a seat directly left of center.

To her right sat an unusual looking man with a sheet of black hair and a scowl. He was watching the arriving students as if the entire proceeding was distasteful. As everyone took their seats, he stood up and lifted his hands. There was silence instantly.

“Greetings, students, new and old. I am your headmaster, Severus Snape. Welcome to Hogwarts …" at which point he started giving some platitudes about the value of wizard education and pure blood and I tuned out. To my left, Lev was scanning the windows and doors, while Jess just sat slouched, looking bored.

[Yo, is that the guy who killed Dumbledore?]

[I think so.]

[I think I tried to kill him over the summer.]

[Really?]

[Yeah I can’t be sure, but I think he shot some purple light at me. It was fast, didn’t get a clear look at his face but I think so.]

[Huh.]

After a while the man paused to take a breath, and began again.

“We now come to the Sorting. The Hat requested to perform a song for you all this year. However I have chosen to dispense with that tedious ritual. Professor McGonagall will read the names of all new students. Come and put on the hat, and go off to your table."

Unnoticed to me, a creaking old man, the same one who had rudely ushered us into the school, had started walking from some unknown location behind Snape with a tattered old hat in his hand, placing it on a small platform in front of the teachers’ table, before slinking back into the shadows.

McGonagall called out: “Allen, Ernest!” A small boy went up to the hat, and looked at it questioningly."

‘Put it on," Mr. Allen,” McGonagall said. The boy gulped and did. A few seconds later, the hat itself yelled out: “Hufflepuff!" at which point a table started cheering. Taking this as his cue, the boy went to sit with them.

[That easy huh?] Jess asked.

[Were you expecting a trial by fire?]

[More like hoping. Can we game it?]

[Lupin seemed to think not. But we’ll see when we get up there.]

Eventually, “Lahiri, Sarah!" and I walked over. There were general murmurs, maybe because of my age, maybe because I was still in jeans. Professor Snape rose.

“Ah yes, I forgot to mention. We have three American transfer students, seventh years. Seeing as they did not see fit to show up in proper attire…when you are sorted, your heads of House will provide you with robes. I trust that students will be nothing but courteous to them."

I got to the hat and put it on. About half a second later it yelled out, nearly deafeningly loud from this close up, “Ravenclaw!" which, from what I knew about the houses, was not surprising. I took a seat with them and made brief introductions.

Pretty soon, “Smith, Jessica!" and she was in Gryffindor in even less time, giving high fives the moment she sat down to anyone and everyone. Then, “Stadler, Lev!" and he sauntered over and put on the hat. 

“Slytherin!" it screamed. The green table cheered as Lev walked over, grinning, to sit among them.

“I thought he was with you!" someone at my table whispered.

“He is."

“Then why is he with Slytherin?"

“How would I know? Also I’m sorry, what’s your name?"

I’m Padma. Slytherin’s bad news, that’s You-Know-Who’s house!"

“I don’t know what to tell you, Padma," I said, shrugging.

Pretty soon the ritual was over, and our plates filled. I met a lot of new folks, most of whom struck me as soft. Jess was off to the races, immediately circling her table and introducing herself to everyone, young and old, after finishing her first course. The Gryffindors looked like good kids. Some of the older ones looked a little rough and tumble, like the Weasley twins. She was going to do fine. Lev was telling a story to a small group, and they were laughing at the right moments. Lev was also going to do fine. I noticed Draco eating quietly, somewhat apart, flanked by two large boys.

Rather quickly, Snape clapped his hands twice and said, “finish up. It is time to retire. Classes begin tomorrow."

Our scraps disappeared, and I moved with my house upstairs. I was exhausted. The whole day had been stressful. I was in a room with three other seventh year girls, Padma and two others, Alanah and Cassie, and out cold in minutes. The next morning I woke up just before dawn, veiled myself, walked to the window, broadcast an alarm-clock dream to the two, and jumped out, my first real exploration underway.

**Chapter 8**

The first few weeks at Hogwarts passed without incident. The three of us had been given second-hand robes and books, but we quickly had everything mended and enchanted to look new. I got along with the girls in my room fine. Ravenclaw was a pretty introverted bunch, which suited me perfectly, because exploring Hogwarts and the grounds was the most fun game I had ever played.

On one level, I simply could not believe the level of magic invested in the space. The three of us would go down hallways at random, veiled and floating slightly off the ground, and find ourselves completely unable to retrace our steps back. Eventually we started leaving magical traces but the school seemed to regurgitate them, and they would stop working the moment they left our field of vision. There was a core of the school that was an easy grid, with the dining hall, classrooms and teachers’ offices in logical array. Beyond that, we concluded, the school was simply un-mappable. When we got too lost, we would make our way to the nearest window and fly out to get our bearings.

One eminently mappable feature of the castle was its defense system. Atop four wings were turrets with clear views of the surrounding land. One evening Jess extended her senses into the stone and reported that there seemed to be extremely powerful defense spells simply awaiting activation. From that point on, we spent a few hours each week learning as much as we could about those spells, and whenever possible, weaving in a trigger or initiation that only we knew, or augmenting them to include defenses against more modern weaponry.

Jess became our contact person with McGonagall, who thought her own office was pretty safe from surveillance. Jess would slip in veiled, and the two of them would have tea and discuss the building’s capabilities. Sometimes, she said, they would talk about Mad-Eye, or Jess’s parents, or the old days.

Generally, classes were pretty neatly divided into those aimed at teaching and those pushing Death Eater ideology. I quite enjoyed the former. Slughorn and McGonagall were brilliant. Herbology was a lot of working with our hands, and Care of Magical Creatures was a good excuse to explore the forest. We were already spending most of our evenings there, practicing, but with Hagrid there, we saw some of its inhabitants: a unicorn, the Centaurs, spiders the size of cars.

The Death Eater classes were tedious. Our crew had told us about the Carrows, and said that both would have been executed for war crimes in the 80s if they had been American, but mostly they just seemed like little, mean-spirited people with too much authority. Muggle Studies was a long diatribe from Alecto about how non-magic people were a bunch of monkeys or whatever. Dark Arts was Amycus’s opportunity to drone on about a particular subset of violent curses which my crew generally considered slow and overly energy-intensive. He also used that class as an opportunity to further expound on the virtues of pure-blooded wizards and the faults of everybody else.

It was in Dark Arts, of all places, that we saw the first salvo between Voldermort’s crew and the Order. It was, for our team, an inauspicious start. It happened when Neville Longbottom decided that enough bullshit was enough. That day, I had checked out as usual when Neville suddenly exclaimed: “and how much pure blood have you got, Amycus?" 

The class took in a collective breath as Amycus paused to regard the ouburst. 

“Longbottom, is it?"

“Yeah. You might have known my parents."

“I can’t say I did. But you are to address me as sir, or Professor, Longbottom."

“Yeah? You think you’re a real professor just because Vol –"

“Cruciatus!" Amycus shrieked, his wand coming out way too fast for Neville. The kid screamed, then slumped into his chair, panting.

“Mr. Crabbe if you would be so kind as to restrain Mr. Longbottom, so he can learn this lesson properly," Amycus said, gesturing to the Malfoy flunkie with the lighter hair. Crabbe got up out of his seat and grabbed Neville’s wand arm, twisted it behind his back, and put his other hand in Neville’s hair, pulling Neville’s head upright to face Amycus.

“Now Mr. Longbottom, I hope you have learned something today about respect for your teachers. I expect we will not have to review this particular lesson again. In regards to your question, I myself am a multi-generation pure blood wizard."

“Like that matters!" Neville gasped. “You’re dirt, Amycus–"

The results were predictable; Amycus tortured him a few more times, admonishing him to respect his elders, until Neville could hardly speak. My Ravenclaw peers watched in horror; Slytherin looked pleased, although also bored. Lev and Jess looked on with contempt. Still, it was nice to see, on his way out, his crew coalesce around him in support. They gave him words of encouragement and called him brave. I walked away with Ravenclaw.

Our first true brush with danger came a few days later. I learned about it when Lev found Jess and me in the library. He was shook up.

“Dude. What happened?"

“Um. I got in a fight with Malfoy. About something stupid. Like he started it but I provoked him. Snape found us. And then like…can I just show you?"

“Sure. You ok? We’re not going to enter your mind and have you go nuts right?"

“No I’m fine."

He took a few deep breaths.

“Ok. I’m ready."

The three of us reached out our hands to each other and entered Lev’s memory.

**Chapter 9**

Three somewhat translucent avatars of ourselves were now standing in the corridor leading to the Slytherin common room. Slytherin was gathered in a circle and cheering. The three of us walked through their bodies to see what the were looking at. Malfoy and Lev were in the middle of the circle. Malfoy was out cold on the ground with a pair of nasty abrasions on his chin and his right wrist. Lev was receiving high fives and apparently reenacting the fight for everyone.

I cocked an eyebrow at avatar-Lev. He shrugged in a what-was-I-supposed-to-do gesture. Jess laughed.

The hallway suddenly became dead quiet. The circle cleared for Snape. He looked at Lev and Malfoy and said nothing.

“Uh-oh," past-Lev said.

“Nice defense, champ," Jess whispered.

“Stadler. Explain," Snape said.

“Um…Sir, well, Draco and I were exchanging words, and he drew his wand on me when my back was turned and fired, but he didn’t hit me because it wasn’t really me he was aiming at, it was a mirage, and then I defended myself. I’m sorry I didn’t get a teacher’s help. The whole thing happened really fast. I didn’t use any magic on him, just my hands."

Snape reacted impassively to this. Slytherin held its breath. Snape flicked his wrist at Malfoy, who woke with a start and looked around wildly.

‘Off you go, Draco. Madame Pomfrey will see to you."

Malfoy slinked off, giving Lev a parting smile before he left, perhaps convinced that Snape was about to dispense justice. Crabbe and Goyle followed.

“Stadler. To my office. The rest of you. Get out of my sight."

Slytherin scrammed. Lev followed Snape to his office. The three of us followed as well.

“Did it ever occur to you," I asked, “to broadcast for help? You see how Snape could be using this as a pretext to isolate you, break your mind and find out everything about us? And you didn’t broadcast out a distress signal?"

“Yeah, it occurred to me. I probably should have. I guess I thought I could escape if it came to an overt attack."

“Dude. This is the _man who killed Dumbledore._ Look at you. You’re putting the entire operation at risk, or you did, because you acted like a total asshole with the first random kid dumb enough to pick a fight with you."

“Or," Jess added, “more to the point, because you were vain enough to stick around after you decked him."

Lev said nothing. He looked at his feet. We got to the Gargoyle in front of the headmaster’s office. It opened for the two of them and we followed them in.

Lev took a seat opposite Snape in a simple chair. Snape took his wand out and placed it on the table in between the two of them. Lev, idiot though he might be, recognized truce protocol, and did the same.

“Whoa," Jess said.

“I knew your grandparents, you know."

“Oh?"

“Yes. How has Lucas been?"

“Fine, thanks for asking. He lives in Australia now."

“Good, good."

Then, Snape surprised me further by asking Lev some rather straightforward questions about how he was enjoying his time at Hogwarts. Lev told him about his classes, that charms and transfiguration were much too easy but that potions was extremely challenging because we had so little experience with it, to which Snape walked to a bookshelf and pulled down an extremely tattered copy of Advanced Potions Making, which he said he had annotated himself as a student, and offered to lend to Lev for the year. Lev gratefully accepted.

Eventually the conversation turned to events in Britain. Snape asked Lev what he thought of things here.

“Things seem good," Lev said. "I’m not sure why Volder –"

“STOP!" Snape shouted, standing up out of his seat. “Have you any idea what you’ve done?”

“No, Sir, I’m sorry, what have I done wrong?"

“Do _not_ utter the Dark Lord’s name. Under any circumstances. It is profoundly disrespectful, Stadler. And, as it pertains to your particular welfare, the name has been tabooed, as only known Harry Potter supporters are likely to speak it. Its utterance will summon Death Eaters to the spot immediately. I trust that you’ll be more careful."

“Yes Sir, I’m sorry. I didn’t know."

“Few do. But I suppose an American would not know that the name is essentially never said in Britain, and has not been for decades. Now, you were saying."

Lev finished his thought, which was that he was surprised that the "Dark Lord" did not wish to be a more visible public presence in order to build a broad movement. Snape said little to this. The conversation moved naturally on to other topics, including Malfoy, whom Snape suggested Lev be nicer to on account of his truly brutal past year. Lev said he would be. After perhaps 45 minutes, Snape dismissed Lev. There was no mention of punishment. The fight itself had hardly been discussed at all.

Lev walked out of the office. His avatar disappeared. The two of us followed suit. We came to in the library, still holding hands and sitting at the table. Perhaps 3 minutes had passed.

No one said anything for a while.

I was thinking about what Snape had said about Lucas. Snape knew about us, about our allegiance. He seemed like a smart man. It was unlikely that he hadn’t worked the pieces out. And yet, here we were, safe. Either he was planning a more subtle attack, or there was more to the story there. I made a note to mention it to our folks the next time we saw them.

“I can’t believe it," Jess said.

“That I didn’t get in trouble?" Lev asked.

[No. That they’ve tabbooed the name. I guess we’ll call him something else from now on. Tom? Tom. Anyway, it’s like they _want_ to give us the world’s greatest bait. So we can basically summon Death Eaters to wherever we are. Whenever we want. So we could have like, one person say the name, and the other two people waiting above and then shoot whoever shows up.]

It alarmed me that that was Jess’s first thought.

[You guys want to try it?]

I shook my head.

“Not with you guys. Neither one of you has your head on straight. Lev. Your belligerence is a major problem. We’re not doing a thing until you have it under control. And Jess. You’ve been better since we got here. But It was just a few months ago that you were at the point of breakdown again. Best thing we can do is tell the crew."

Neither said anything.

[Fine] Jess sent. [Whatever. But what I really think we should do is tell Jordan Loew.]

[That’s not crazy. But we have no idea how to contact him. Also, the crew banished him for a reason. The mass murder thing.]

[I know. But I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. Lev and I have been talking about it. We want to talk to him. Get his side of the story. I feel like we should hear it from him directly.]

[I…I could be convinced. But let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. Also, not sure if we should risk leaving the castle to tell our parents just yet. Let’s see what comes. Also, can we go to dinner? Living your memory was stressful Lev.]

[Yeah, it was stressful being there too.]

“I’m sorry I called you an asshole," I said as we packed up our books.

“It’s ok. I was being one. I’m gonna say sorry to Draco."

“Well," I said, “it’s a start."

**Chapter 10**

As fate would have it, Hogwarts gave Jess and Lev exactly what they needed about two weeks later. All it took was Ginny coming a hair’s width from being thrown to the wolves.

Word about what happened to Neville spread pretty quick, and the Gryffindors didn’t like it one bit. Seemingly overnight, we started seeing graffiti around the walls proclaiming “Dumbledores Army” or “long live Potter” or whatnot. The Death Eaters themselves still inspired a lot of fear, and no one was challenging them directly. We were pretty sure who was behind this – Jess reported that within Gryffindor, Neville was the symbolic leader, Ginny was the brains of the operation, a kid named Seamus was the risk-taking one, and Colin and Dennis Creevey were the lookouts. About a week after Lev’s great adventure with Snape, we were discussing the issue in the Forest, having just played a Hide and Seek simulation, rules being you could neither touch the ground nor fly, so only jumping between trees, which Jess had won, first to five wins.

“They’ve got some good ideas," Jess said, as we stopped to drink from a brook, “most of which they can’t really put into operation, but they’re being sloppy. They’re going to get caught sooner or later."

“What do you mean?" Lev said.

“Well partly I’m not sure they don’t want to be caught. Neville keeps talking about the way Harry stood up to some woman named Umbridge a few years ago. He says it inspired people, and someone has to be seen standing up. As to the rest of them, well, none of their skills are all there. Ginny knows some veils from watching us over the summer, but she can’t maintain the veil and do anything else, and she’s trying to teach her crew, but they’re not picking it up so well. I can still see Seamus’s hair every time they practice in the common room, and Neville stomps around like a troll."

“Have they asked you for help?" I asked.

“Yes, actually. Ginny came up to me one day in the common room but I was pretty rude. I think I said, "fuck off, amateur." None of them that heard it have talked to me since… but you know I apologized to Ginny later, explained about our alibi, and she was cool. But they’re going to get in real trouble. First of all they practice in the common room sometimes and they’re, like, totally not worried about spies. Oh yo also they go somewhere I don’t know to practice, and I don’t think it’s out here. Yeah so they seem to think the worst thing that could happen would be getting tortured. Like Tom wouldn’t kill their moms. It’s crazy."

“This is a pickle," Lev said. We were sitting cross-legged, facing each other, mending Lev’s bruised frame. On the last round Jess had caught Lev in a mid-air swing and essentially sledge-hammered him into the ground. He had broken a few ribs on impact.

“Any ideas?" Jess asked.

“Well," I said, “what’s most important?"

“Probably we need to protect Ginny," Lev said. “If she goes down, Harry could come back, or Tom might kidnap her or something. I’m assuming the three of them are still alive because we haven’t heard anything. We protect Ginny, we keep them moving, we keep their mission-a-go."

“Agreed," I said. “But Jess was probably right not to get involved. Too many moving parts. One of them gets tortured and mind-fucked, we don’t want to be seen anywhere near the scene of anything."

“Yeah."

“So what’s the play?"

“Can we tail them?"

“Yes," Jess said. “Easily."

“That’s going to eat into our practice time."

“I know. Why don’t we start with just Ginny. You know what, Ginny knows we’re allies, right? Why don’t I let her in on it tonight. Nobody else for now."

“I agree," Lev said.

“Me too," I said.

“All right," Jess said. “We’re a-go. You guys want to play again?"

“Absolutely," Lev said, getting to his feet. “Can we try in the lake? I want to practice the warming and breathing spells."

“Oh god, could you play any more to my strengths."

“Yeah? You want to try 2 on 1?" Jess taunted.

“Bring it you inept bitches."

*****

Jess’s prediction came true five days later when Ginny and Neville were dragged from bed at 3 in the morning by the Carrows. Fortunately, Jess had taught Ginny a rudimentary telepathy spell over the summer, and though she couldn’t communicate anything complex, [HELP] she could get within a day of practicing. Well [HELP] came, Jess woke up, she woke the two of us, and we were moving.

[Where?]

[One of the Carrow offices. They’re adjacent. Don’t know full story. I can overpower the two of them alone but let’s take this seriously just in case.]

[I’ll bring the rifle!]

[Oh good if we have to wage an insurgency it’ll be great to have you.]

[It doesn’t seem that the two of you are taking this very seriously.]

[All right mom. I’m just psyched. This might be the night we kill the Carrows.]

[I hope it doesn’t come to that. It’s freaking October, we have a lot more months with this crew, and you know Tom’s choice of replacement would be worse.]

[All right keep your pants on we’ll try not to kill them.]

[I’m here.]

[Me too.]

[Hey Lev.]

[Hey buddy.]

[You beat the Carrows slightly. They’re maybe a corridor away.]

[Tom. Tommy Boy. We should call him Chris Farley.]

[Dude. Focus.]

[Chris was a funny guy, Sarah.]

Soon enough, Neville and Ginny came, looking bleary-eyed and scared in their PJs – which for Neville was just a pair of boxers – followed by the Carrows in their full robes, holding their wands. Alecto opened the door to her office, and the three of us slipped in.

There we were greeted by a surprise: five Slytherins, all dudes, all big. They were all fully dressed, and looking eager. The Carrows moved behind their desk, but not before shoving the two kids into the middle of the room. It wasn’t a huge office, and the Slytherins were crowding by the door. There was a real chance that someone was going to run into us. On my mental map, I saw Jess move behind the Carrows, a pistol in each hand. She’d have the drop. Lev and I needed to be ready for the Slytherins, just in case.

[Float up?] he suggested.

[You got it. I’ll take left wing.]

[Also did we tell Ginny we’re here?]

[I told her we’d be here] Jess said. [I think she got it. I’m not risking communication with her now. She’s too inexperienced, she might give us away.]

[All right. Let’s see what happens.]

The Carrows were savoring the moment. “So," Amycus said after a minute. “You two think you’re really funny. Long Live Potter on the walls, like he’s even alive anymore. And you thought no one would know?"

“I don’t know what you’re talking about," Neville said. Amycus walked around his desk, stood face to face with Neville and punched him in the stomach. Neville bent forward, hands over his solar plexus. Amycus returned to his desk.

“Nobody asked you to talk boy. But as a matter of fact, we have a witness. Mr. Goyle, would you please tell these two what you saw the other day?"

“Right," Goyle said. “It was you two, and two kids I don’t know. Younger, siblings or something. Anyway I definitely saw you two. I’d just left dinner early, bad stomach ache, and I heard you two around a corner. I looked around, and there you were, both of you, writing something. I stayed for a bit and then turned around and told these two, and now we’re here innit?"

He smiled.

“Well," Alecto said. “Caught red-handed. What seems like the appropriate punishment?"

“Something to really make them remember," Amycus leered.

Boy, I thought, they were really playing up the creepy angle.

[This is boring] Jess sent. [Why are they drawing it out?]

[Uh…] Lev sent. [I think they’re trying to inspire fear or something. Or show the Slytherins something?]

[Quiet you two, let’s be ready to move.]

[Dude I’ve got the drop on the Carrows. They do something and I’ll take both out.]

[And all the Slytherins?]

[You two could handle them.]

[The seven bodies might be more of a challenge.]

[Transfigure them into vases or something.]

[Dudes. People would realize they were missing. Play it cool, we’re trying non-lethal tactics at first.]

[Fine…]

While we were chatting, Amycus had punched Neville a few more times and kicked him, shouting something about disrespect. Nothing had happened to Ginny which worried me. Neville was bleeding on the floor, and Ginny looked legitimately scared. Personally I thought the soft teenager before us could learn to take a few hits, but things got noticeably worse when Alecto put her hand on her brother’s arm to stop him from striking again.

“Amycus, I’ve had an idea," she said. “Longbottom just isn’t getting it. We should probably teach him something remembers a little better."

“A good notion, I say. Did you have something in mind?"

“As a matter of fact I did."

With that, she pointed her wand at Neville, bound him up in silver rope and pinned him to her desk, sitting with his back against it and his hands seemingly nailed in.

“Now as to you my dear," she said to Ginny. A wandflick and Ginny’s arms were tied behind her back, and a cloth covered her mouth. She then walked over to Ginny, and pushed her over towards the gaggle of Slytherin boys. Without the benefit of her hands, Ginny landed on the ground at their feet.

“Have at her," Alecto said. “Neville can watch. That ought to teach the two of them a little bit about respect."

“NO!" Neville shouted, pulling against the ropes.

“Um," Goyle said. “Excuse me?"

“What, is she not an attractive young woman? What did you think we brought you here for? We want you to teach these blood-traitors a lesson. Surely you want to?"

“I’m not touching that mudblood," said Zabini Blaise, who had asked me if Lev was gay a few weeks ago. The Slytherins in general had no idea what to make of the situation. They looked at each other in confusion.

[Oh HELL no] Jess sent. [This is death-penalty worthy. I gotta kill em.]

[Uh, I agree] Lev replied. [This is pretty far over the line.]

[Let's knock them out and then talk about it] I sent. [Jess you get the Carrows, Lev and I will blanket the Slytherins.]

[Fair enough] Jess sent as she holstered the guns and raised her hands at the Carrows. Lev and I did the same at the Slytherins. All five of them crumpled to the ground, completely unprepared. Unfortunately we did so slightly before Jess set her spells into motion, and though she caught Amycus, Alecto saw her brother go down, dodged to her left and crouched with her wand out. Lev hovered over to directly above her and dropped, landing directly on her shoulders. She hit the ground, rolled onto her back and put her hands in front of her face, but Lev kicked her in the mouth; I heard teeth break, and then Lev waved his hand at her and she went to sleep before she could start screaming.

“Bitch," he said as the veil dissolved. Jess and I followed suit, dissolved our veils and checked on the downed Slytherins. All were out cold. A few were snoring. In a moment we cut the ropes off of Neville and Ginny, both of whom quickly clutched each other, Ginny hyperventilating and Neville asking some incoherent question about where we had come from.

“Both of you," Jess said, “Shut up. Now."

“What the bloody hell was that?!" Neville said, pulling away from us towards a window. “And what’s _he_ doing with you?!"

“Neville, Neville," Ginny said. “It’s all right, they’re with us! Please relax."

“And you need to do it now," Jess added. “We’re only about a hundred feet from the Headmaster’s office. I don’t know where he sleeps but we do not need the extra attention. Either quiet down or I’ll put you down."

Neville took that advice to heart, but was still whispering furiously to Ginny and gesticulating at us. She looked at us imploringly.

“What should I tell him?"

“Whatever you want," Lev said. “Cat’s out of the bag I guess. I unveiled so the two of you wouldn’t think you were with ghosts, I thought that would be even worse. Although I can’t say this went ideally. Now we’ve got a lot of big sleeping lunatics to worry about. And you, Neville, you idiot, probably woke half the castle."

Ginny, who had evidently calmed down considerably, said, “I actually don’t think that’s true. This office is pretty sound-proofed. She took Seamus in here one time for talking back. I waited right outside. Couldn’t hear a thing. He said after that he’d been screaming bloody murder. I think we’re ok as long as no one comes in."

“Obviously I took care of that," Lev sneered. “The door is locked and triggered. If that’s the case all we’ve got to worry about is these lumps. I vote we kill them."

“Motion is seconded," Jess said.

“The Slytherins too? Their families would, hello, probably wonder what happened? I can’t think of a better way of drawing attention to the school, and by extension, to us. Also, they didn’t do anything besides tattle. Maybe they would have raped Ginny if we hadn’t intervened. But we did. We’re not killing them."

“Fine," Jess said. “The Carrows though? Alecto?"

“Also not worth the risk. Don’t get me wrong, I think we should put her, and what the hell, him too, on the to-kill-if-the-opportunity-comes-up list. But they were already there right? Again, with the undue attention to Hogwarts and us. Let’s start brainstorming."

“False memory implants?" Ginny said.

“That’s quite tricky," I said.

“I can do them, actually."

“Really?"

“Yeah. Hermione taught me."

“How good are you?"

“Not bad."

“Have you ever done it in a high-stakes situation?"

“No," she admitted.

“Actually," Lev said, “that’s not a big problem. We’ve got some time to try it out. Ginny can try it on a Slytherin and I can see how well it worked."

“Fine," Jess said. “if it doesn’t work, I vote we just blank all of their minds and let them sort the pieces out."

“That’s our next best alternative," I said. “For now, maybe something like, the two of you got beat up and then went back to your dormitories? Weave naturally from where they were hitting Neville?"

“All right," Ginny said. “Let’s give it a shot."

Ginny, it turned out, had undersold herself. She rolled Goyle onto his back, put her wand to his head, and whispered something I couldn’t hear. Lev went over and put his fingers on Goyle’s head for a few seconds, and looked at us.

“She’s the real deal, we’re in the clear.”

I was impressed. I also wished Hermione had taught me that before she left, but no matter. Ginny put false memories in the five Slytherins, Lev following to double check and enchanting them to stand. Eventually Ginny did the same to the Carrows, Lev set them upright and removed the bruises from Alecto while setting her teeth, and Ginny looked at us as if awaiting instructions.

Before she could ask, Jess said, “we’ll set a wake up, they’ll all come to about five minutes after, at which point we’ll be gone. But before we go we should get something straight. This was an extremely risky operation for a little stupid graffiti. I’d like to ask you to stop."

“Easy for you to say," Neville spoke up. “Not all of us can come out of nowhere and take out seven people at once. And the three of you, I want to know your story anyway. We’re doing what we can. And if the Death Eaters want us, it doesn’t matter what we do. They’ll get us."

“We might be able to help you there," I said. “Ginny, you want to do lessons like over the summer? This should never happen again, and we might be able to help."

“Yes, I’d love that," she said. “If Jess hadn’t been so rude to me two weeks ago I was going to ask then."

“Yeah…about that," Jess said. “Y’all weak. Someone cracks one of your minds and the whole operation goes down. I’d like to minimize the number of links in the chain. Just the two of you for now. I guess Ginny, you already knew about us, and Neville, welcome to the club. We can go anytime, maybe out to the forest."

“I have a better idea," Ginny said. “There’s a room in the castle we’ve used for lessons before. It’s perfect. I can show you guys tomorrow. Right now I just want to go to sleep."

“Fine," I said. “Let’s go to bed for now. Lev, set the alarm please."

“Aye aye, captain."

“I also want to say that I’m glad we all survived this," I added.

“Ditto," Ginny said. Neville looked at us again with distrust, his arm around Ginny as they walked to the door.

And that was how we found out about the Room of Requirement.

**Chapter 11**

I would have liked to think that I’d seen some impressive magic in my time. A guy in our crew could approach the speed of sound in flight. An ally of ours, old gnarled man from Chile, had once constructed a gigantic castle in a matter of minutes, that the rest of us lived in for a summer, and then taken it down just as quickly at summer’s end. In terms of destructive magic, Jess’s fireball ranked pretty high up there.

But beyond a shadow of a doubt, the Room of Requirement was the most amazing enchantment I had ever seen. It was so perfect, so expertly designed and executed, its scope at once so focused and so encompassing, that I would have never thought it a possibility.

At 10:00 p.m., Lev, Jess and I met Ginny and Neville outside the Ravenclaw common room, and followed them under veils up a few flights of stairs. Their veils needed work, but we made our way to a 7th floor corridor, where Ginny whispered, “it’s here." About five seconds later, a door appeared in the wall, and we stepped into a well-lit room, maybe twenty by twenty feet, with nothing but a few chairs, a table and a chalkboard. Ginny said, “it’s ok, we’re safe here," and the two of them unveiled.

[How do you know?] I sent.

Neville startled; perhaps he hadn’t been expecting to hear a voice in his mind.

“So," he said, “maybe we should explain. The Room of Requirement shows up and gives you basically whatever you ask for. There are some exceptions and we’ll go into that later. But I asked it for a room that only the five of us could enter for right now, and it gave it to us. So nobody else can get in right now."

[No way.]

“Yes way. Try it."

[Ok I want a cheeseburger].

“Actually food’s one of the things you can’t ask for. Try a physical object."

[Ok how about] but before Lev could finish, there on the table was a military-caliber M24, scope and all.

[Oh my] Jess sent.

 _“That’s_ what you want?” Neville asked.

“Esse," Lev murmured, appearing, as Jess and I followed suit. As he walked over to the table, a bullseye appeared on the far end of the wall. Lev picked up the weapon, loaded and inspected it, and fired.

“Holy shit," he said. “You…you have a room…you have a room that can _give you what you want?_ "

“Yeah," Neville said. “You need to be really specific though. Harry used to use this room to teach us defense against the dark arts a few years ago, but we didn’t think to ask it to prevent enemies from getting in, and we all got caught. Just…be really specific. And try it out a bit."

“No," Lev said. “No one do anything. Just everyone shut up for a minute."

Lev had begun pacing around the room.

“Oh my god, guys. This place. Darren. Come back to me. Please, I miss you, so fucking much, just talk to me."

Nothing happened.

“Maybe we need more power," Jess said. “Let’s all give it a shot."

“I’m sorry," Ginny said. "What?"

“We’re trying to contact the dead," I said. “We’ve been trying for a little while now, with spells we make up, but this room might be the right place. Quiet for a second please."

The three of us moved together to hold hands in a circle. The physical barrier established, we closed our eyes and extended our wills into one another. It seemed natural that Lev would conduct this one, and he selected one of the brief spells we had tried for this before. We sang a small song in silence. After four repetitions we sent our will out, opened our eyes, and waited. Again nothing happened.

“I’m sorry buddy," Jess said. “Not this time."

Lev put his head on Jess’s shoulder.

“Let’s do it like Neville said," I suggested. “Let’s try thinking of physical objects."

We did. In a matter of seconds, the room was littered with weapons ranging from the medieval to the cutting edge, and the room had gotten much larger. I asked for a big, comfy couch and one appeared in a far corner. I also noticed three wall-mounted telephones by the door.

“Whoa guys," I said, “let’s take stock for a second, we’re going to drown in stuff."

“This…" Jess said. “This is the greatest thing. This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. We could supply an infinitely large army."

“I don’t know about that," Lev said, “the room probably has a limit somewhere. We just haven’t found it yet. So we all asked for a way to talk to our crew huh?"

“I did," I said.

“Hmm. Well. I can think of someone else I want to talk to."

Another telephone, this one red, appeared next to the first three.

“Liz and Jordan?" I asked.

“As far as I know."

“So what’s first?" Jess asked.

“Let’s call our crew, tell them we’re fine, tell them about the taboo thing," Lev said.

“Ok," I said. “You can if you’d like. All three white phones should work."

“Would you mind," Neville said, a little petulantly, “keeping us in the loop?"

“Yeah," Jess said. “We’re going to call our crew in America. We each asked for a telephone to contact them. We want to give an update, report that we haven’t seen Harry, tell them about the taboo thing."

“That’s great," Neville said, “but can I ask, what precisely did you request to the room?"

“A way to contact my parents," Lev said as he walked towards the phones.

“So, did you ask for a way to contact your parents? Or did you ask for a way to contact your parents that no Death Eater, enemy or even potential enemy could eavesdrop in on?"

“Uh…" Lev trailed off. “The first one."

“Did you not hear me when I said, be very specific?"

“Um, I guess I didn’t think of that," Lev said.

He paused.

“That’s a good idea. I’m sorry dude. I shouldn’t have moved so fast. I just want to talk to them really bad I guess."

As he spoke, a new telephone appeared right next to the original four.

(Make the other three go away, I thought "at" the room, to the extent that I could, and they did).

“Just get used to being enormously particular. I’ve spent a lot of time here, and when in doubt, run something by me," Neville said.

“Will do," Jess said. “We’re sorry if we seemed like we’re stepping on your space. This is all just very new."

“It’s all right," he said. “But I’d like something more than a sorry. I’d like to know who you guys are. Ginny told me a bit this morning. But I think I deserve to hear it from the horse’s mouth."

The three of us exchanged a glance.

“You’re right, Neville," I said, “we don’t know who to trust yet. But you’ve helped us – more than you know, actually – by showing us this room. So for now, how about we explain ourselves while Lev makes the call?" 

“That seems fair," Neville said. “And what’s with the red phone?"

“That," Jess said, “you might not want to know, but after we tell you about ourselves, if you still want to, we’ll tell about that too."

“And afterwards, more lessons?" Ginny asked.

“Sure," Jess said, and I listened as she gave him the cliffnotes version of our crew, our purpose, and our involvement with Harry.

“We got to the Burrow with Ginny," Jess said, finishing up, “and offered them a few lessons in combat stuff, until Harry and co disappeared, and then we decided to come to Hogwarts anyway to keep an eye on things. And now we’re talking to you. Any questions?"

“So," Neville trailed off, “A lot, but I’m not sure they’re crucial right now. For starters, though, what kind of combat stuff are we talking here?"

“Well," I said, “that depends. You’ve seen some of what we can do. I’m a decent medic and world-class at making spells up. All of us are relatively skilled at hand to hand or weapons combat. Jess is your girl for sheer firepower, and Lev has skills that would make him a really good thief. You want to make a piece of clothing bulletproof or fireproof, we can do that. So what do you want?"

“Um. I want to know what will help me help Harry the best."

As soon as he said it, a piece of folded paper appeared on the desk where Lev had set the M24 down. Neville walked over to it, read it, and put it in his pocket as he walked back to us, saying nothing.

“Well?" Ginny said.

“Turns out, you can ask the room for advice. It says, protect allies."

“Allow me to reiterate that this is the most awesome place I’ve ever been," Jess said.

“This is great, something we can definitely work with," I said. “Why don’t we set up a game, like the ones we play ourselves. Jess, you be someone Neville and Ginny have to protect. Lev and I will try to tag her, and you try to tag us. Room, make this game awesome please?"

Abruptly, the walls seemed to shift backwards, and the room became so cluttered with broken furniture that it looked nearly impossible to walk. There were junked pianos that you could hide a child in, overturned bookshelves, bed frames piled against walls, a mess of cabinets in disarray. It was perfect.

“Lev!" I called. “You up for a game?"

“Yeah!" he yelled right back. “All right mom we gotta go. Yeah we’re teaching two of their crew something. Yeah, Longbottom and Weasley. Tell Gemma I love her. God I wish I were there when you do the taboo thing…Ok yeah, we will. Love you."

He hung up, and walked over to us.

“Sweet set up. What’s the play?"

“These two protecting slash hiding Jess – we’ll rotate which one of us gets protected each round, we won’t be firing or anything – and the other two of us are trying to get the third. If the protected person gets touched or spelled the attackers win, if the defenders touch or enchant the defenders they win."

“What would be the, ah, difficulty setting these two should play on?"

“Why don’t we start on…Death Eater, i.e. unveiled, loud, saying our spells aloud. And we’ll give them two minutes to find a position, cut down ten seconds every round. Oh, before we start. Neville and Ginny, practice a hot air spell. Something that you’ll know you’ve been hit, but won’t hurt. I go with vesivus. Just picture a small jet of hot air coming out. We’ll do the same."

The first round, Neville and Ginny did well, hiding in complete silence beneath a piano until we passed, and then touching our feet. The next round, Jess and I walked much more quietly and started firing spells at random. Ginny countered with a noise-throwing spell which would have fooled me if I hadn’t taught it to her over the summer, but, within the rules of the game, was good enough for Neville to sneak up and tap us on the neck. Third round, Jess and Lev muffled all their sound and started casting around hominid revelum in addition to hot air spells. Ginny got Jess but Lev got me.

The next round Lev and I went with a more complete veil and we both got Jess. The next round, Jess and I combined for a multi-sensory veil and started floating around the room rather than walking, and we got Lev much more quickly. That was the difficulty level at which we stopped and ran repeat rounds, suggesting pointers for how they could veil themselves more effectively, look for clues that a veiled person was moving, and move more quietly. At 1:00 a.m. We called it a day.

“From here on in," Jess said, “we should do this a few times a week. You guys need time to relay some of the stuff to your crew yeah? Please don’t tell them where you learned what you do."

“How about, Mondays Thursdays and Saturdays, 10:00 pm each night?" Ginny suggested.

“That’s good," Lev said. “Excuse us for a moment though. We need to call some old friends."

“I’m still not sold on this," I said. “I think we need to actually discuss it and we didn’t get much of a chance, I hadn’t thought the possibility of calling would so quickly emerge."

“But…" Jess said. “Sarah the phone’s right there."

“And it will be there tomorrow. You guys were pretty out of it when Jordan came back. I listened a little more closely. My parents thought that their civilian casualty count was in the high hundreds or low thousands."

“We deserve to hear it from them though," Jess said. “Let them tell their side of the story."

“You guys, you guys are talking about…" Ginny said, “getting in touch with the Loews you said? Like, Darren’s parents? The one who went on the offensive with the vampires you said?"

“Yep," Lev confirmed.

“And your crew thinks they killed hundreds or thousands of people when going after, whatever they went after?"

“If that’s what they said I believe it," Jess said.

“Why do you want to get in touch exactly?"

“Because they were the real combat specialists," Lev said. “Tom’s out of our league. Snape might be as well. We just want to get some ideas from them. Not saying we’ll commit to anything. Just want to chat."

“If that’s what you want, really all you want, I can be convinced," I said. “Two conditions. First, lets talk to them tomorrow. We’re exhausted right now, I can’t think clearly. Second, as to whatever we do with them, whether we team up or what, we make that decision with them not here. Just the three of us. For now, we hear them out, maybe meet up if they want, and then decide what to do."

“Done," Lev said.

“Completely fine," Jess said.

“This worries me guys. I don’t want to end up like them."

“Hopefully you won’t have to," Jess said.

With that, we made our way to our respective dormitories. I didn’t sleep very well that night.

**Chapter 12**

And so, three weeks later, on a drizzly November evening, we made our way to Hogsmeade to meet Jordan Loew.

The phone call had been short. He had been extremely surprised to hear from us, but then immediately became guarded. He suggested that we find a place and time to meet. Before Lev could say where we were, he asked if the plan to get three kids to shadow a certain someone had finally been accepted, and if that meant we were at a “preppy, effeminate little boarding school." Lev said yes, and then Jordan said: "November 5th. 8:00 p.m. Get to the village. I’ll be there,” and hung up.

In the ensuing weeks, Lev got propositioned by Zabini and then in short order propositioned a 6th year girl from Hufflepuff. That was going to blow up in his face, but I wasn’t super worried about it. Jess was fooling around with some Gryffindor guy, but the three of us still spent almost every evening together, reading or practicing, so it wasn’t like anything was going to get serious with them either.

We stopped holding back quite so much in class. Potions had started out hard but the basic principles were so similar to chemistry, and apparently only the three of us had ever taken a real chemistry course, that by mid-October we were miles ahead. The same was true in transfiguration. Luckily, revealing that gave Slughorn and McGonagall a reason to put us in a group together, and give each of us slightly different assignments. With Snape’s book in hand, our advantage at potions was growing gigantic. Some of the more dangerous spells written within suggested that 17 year old Severus Snape had been a kindred spirit.

Social life in Hogwarts went on like it must have for a millennium. People went to Quidditch matches. Happily, Draco and Lev reconciled ok. Lev told us he approached him quietly with his hands visible and apologized for humiliating him. Draco accepted it gracefully, that way rich people are good at. They weren’t going to be bosom buddies but things had smoothed over. Nobody thought twice about seeing them sitting together at meals or anything. The Gryffindors had significantly cut back on the graffiti, and as far as I could tell, Ginny, Neville, and their friend Luna were teaching a fairly big crew some combat training. They had adopted our style of practicing multiple skills simultaneously through simulations, as we observed one evening veiled, and were pretty good teachers. A lot of what we were teaching them now was common sense stuff, like never be too far from a weapon, a shield, and the ability to contact an ally, and some spells to facilitate all that, like silent incantation, telepathy, wandless summoning charms, and veils.

We asked them, in the room one evening, to close their eyes and visualize the weapon that felt most right to them. A broadsword clattered to the ground at Neville’s feet, and at Ginny’s, a pair of throwing knives. None of us three knew a lot about bladed combat, but it wasn’t so hard to figure out, and we were spending a few hours a week practicing with them, working on accuracy with Ginny and basic thrusts and parries with Neville.

Some people in our crew were phenomenal with blades, and we were starting to talk about having G+N, as we called them, over to the States for winter break. But what we absolutely could help them with was enchanting and personalizing their weapons, which all three of us were quite good at. A few weeks of work and both had weapons that they could carry around invisibly and next to weightlessly, or, if they didn’t want to carry them, summon with a word. We were, early in the evening on November 5th, just beginning to teach them to make their weapons effective shields as well, to either repel or reflect physical or magical attacks. They weren’t going to have weapons as personalized and versatile as ours anytime soon, but it was a start.

Jordan hadn’t given us any kind of clear signal about what to expect, but at 7:55, we were crouching on the roof of the Three Broomsticks, which we had scouted one evening and determined was a good vantage point and a relatively easy escape. I had my coil in my hand, and Jess and Lev were holding two pistols each; we had divided our attention so that Jess and I were scanning the ground and Lev’s senses were extended to the air. A really powerful, dedicated wizard could still sneak up on us, but our plan was to scatter if anything went wrong.

At 7:59, we heard a faint *pop!* of apparition, followed immediately by an absurdly loud and frightening siren that tore into the docile fabric of the evening. Four death eaters, three men and a woman, came spilling out into the street from the pub we were crouched on, wands out, in a tight square formation. I recognized two of them as people I’d engaged with in July. They were, if memory served, formidable wizards.

“Who’s that trying to come into Hogwarts, ay?” the woman yelled. “Is that you Potter?"

“You’d best come out now," another added, “or we might get the dementors, I’ve heard you’re not too fond of them."

They weren’t moving, though, and were congregating in a lantern-illuminated spot not fifteen feet away from us; the three of us could easily subdue them. But before I could come up with a plan, or any of us could do anything, a few things happened in such quick succession that I had trouble following.

First, the two death eaters who had spoken were bereft of their heads, which came rolling down at odd angles. By the time the bodies hit the ground the remaining death eaters suddenly jerked back, like they had been kicked in the face by a large animal. For a glimpse of a second I saw a high-caliber hole in one of their foreheads – and then all four bodies were simply gone, transfigured, I assumed. That last bit was a giveaway that someone from our crew was in the vicinity. A few short beats later, I heard a guttural word in a language I didn’t know, and the siren stopped. From every direction at once came the sound of many windows closing.

[Holy mother of Christ] Jess broadcast.

[That was like 4 seconds] Lev sent. [I know they were unprepared but still. Did you even see him?]

“I know you’re out there," Jordan’s voice wafted up from nowhere. “I’m alone. Let me in to your little chat and let’s coordinate this."

[What the hell] I sent. [Lev, you wanted him here. This one’s on you.]

[Ok, I’ll give it a shot] Lev offered weakly. [Here goes: Jordan. Jordan? CAN YOU HEAR ME?]

[Jesus Christ boy no need to shout. I can sense that you’re near– though I’m impressed, I can’t locate you any more closely than that. Jess I can feel your excitement coming through, you can’t be more than twenty feet away. Drink?]

[After that? You don’t think people are going to be, like, wary of someone unknown entering?]

[I don’t care what they think, I want a drink. And besides, let them see me. I’ll be gone by the morning. You three should disguise, but no need to lurk around like criminals. Let’s hit the Hog’s Head inn, I like that place. I’m street level, look for the blue shimmer.]

Sure enough, right where four people had just died and disappeared, there was briefly something that looked like a heat mirage, with a tint of sky blue against the darker colors of the street.

[Well, what the hell] Jess sent. [We’ve come this far.]

And with that, she jumped down to the street, as did Lev and I a second later. The blue shimmer walked forward, and the three of us followed; soon we were at a new pub, one I hadn’t been to. In a low-lit area Jordan unveiled, and we joined him. We had each disguised, and would probably be unrecognizable to anyone but our parents.

“It’s good to see you three again," Jordan said, “even if it is looking like this. Come on, they’ll probably give me my old seat."

He opened the door, and we followed him in.

**Chapter 13**

They did indeed give Jordan the seat he wanted – or, when he walked in, almost no one regarded him, except for a mean-looking man at the bar who raised a tankard in salute, and we made our way back to a far corner round-table where Jordan sat with his back to the wall, eyes on everything.

I took a moment to take stock of him. He was wearing a black knee-length peacoat over a collared shirt and sweater, jeans and black shoes, like a perfectly normal city-dweller in the fall. He had been a good-looking man when we saw him last, but there was something imprecisely vicious about him now. His black hair had thinned considerably in the back, and a close-cut beard didn’t hide a horrible looking scar on his right cheek that ran down to his neck. As we sat, he called out to the bartender, who brought over four shots of whiskey and four beers and said nothing.

“They don’t card much at this place. Anyway, to your health, and to this meeting," Jordan said, raising his whiskey, which the three of us met.

“As a prerequisite for business," he said, and put his hands on a wooden banister to his right and murmured something. We were immediately enveloped in a sound bubble that blocked off the entire pub, and I could hear Jordan’s coat rustling with startling clarity.

“Best thing about this place, anti-eavesdropping spells built into the booths. Gotta know someone to get the password to activate them. Some of the best I’ve ever encountered. Safe too. Well, safe now, maybe ten years back a bartender built in a mechanical way to eavesdrop, and a distant acquaintance from Vietnam detected it while he was drinking and killed the bartender in broad daylight. Nobody did a goddamn thing about it is what I heard, dude just walked out and never came back. Anyway. So you’re all at Hogwarts? Harry isn’t here though right?’

“That’s right, I said. “He’s off fighting a certain someone."

“Yeah, but Volder –"

“Stop!" Jess nearly shouted, cutting him off. “There’s a taboo on that name. It draws Death Eaters instantly. We call him Tom.”

“All right, keep your pants on, Tom’s another matter altogether. From what I hear Harry’s not so special."

“He’s fine, and his buddy Hermione is on top of it. We don’t know much more than that – I’m sorry, how the hell have you not heard about the taboo thing?"

“Jessica, this is my longest conversation in months. And, even if I had muttered the name aloud at some point, you think I hang out where Death Eaters can get me? Wait. Hold on. Are you seriously saying that if someone says his name, his subordinates come? Like, on command? Is he a fucking idiot?"

“We can’t tell," Jess said, “but we told our crew. They’re gonna try to start luring them. Try to get information, wipe their memories or something."

“That’s fine but how about: killing all but one, mind control that one, strap a bomb on him and blow up a base. Or, we catch a top lieutenant, have him take us to Tom directly and then we shoot him."

“That…could work too. Yeah, that could work," Lev said. “That’s part of why we got in touch, discuss what we’ve learned, get ideas. But before we do, we’d, well –“

Lev breathed and recited the script we’d worked out.

It’s been a while. We’d like your account of everything from the attack onwards. We heard our parents’ version but we thought that we ought to hear it from you and Liz if she were around. Did she make it, by the way?"

“With the vampires. I’ll get there," he said. “All right. Haven’t told it in a while but you three deserve it. Y’all were there for the attack. You know we went on the offensive, Putnam’s horcruxes and bases. Turned out, we don’t know how old Putnam was, but dude had a fucking empire. Out of the way places, goddamn fortresses in Guatemala, Papa New Guinea. Wizards, military, one of them had a dragon. We had maybe twenty C.I.A. guys with us, ten wizards, ten who knew so much about fighting wizards they might as well have been. We lost five in Guate before we made our first move, they found us, sicked some kind of hunting dog spirits who came in total silence. We retreated and held them off, and it took all of us to apparate the non-wizards out. I went back alone and tried to get around them. Got up to the wall, tried firing a shot at it, rebounded, illuminated me, hounds found me again, barely escaped."

“Did some more recon, spent about a month trying to penetrate the fortress. No dice. So Liz and I talked it over, made a choice. We sent the other fifteen guys home. Contacted the baddest group we knew and we thought would play ball, which was the Mayan Scourge, based out of Bolivia. The two of us approached, all old-world rituals, unarmed, hands clearly visible, and with a gift, one of Putnam’s patrol crew we had captured alive one night, and met with one of their chieftains. Little guy and remember the vampires live in huts, they look like any other native peoples until they become giant fucking bat nightmares but this was just a little guy."

“We explained our problem. He told us about the resources we could avail ourselves of: three elders, five of what they call Full Warriors, and basically as many foot soldiers as we needed. We were just flabbergasted. Y’all might not know about the Elders, but they’re – well, they just have access to way more energy than any wizard, almost impossible to kill, reflexes so far beyond the human they’re more like lightning strikes, and they work in perfect unison. This group had three _to spare_ , which was more than we thought any particular scourge had. So it’s just a ton of power to be sitting on, and we’re pretty sure that when vamps are peaceful, it means there’s balance between the scourges, so I think that all the scourges are sitting on that kind of firepower. It’s fucking scary."

“Anyway. We asked them what they wanted for it. First bid, four thousand people. Like, to enslave, seduce, enthrall, kill, repeatedly terrify, whatever they do, they’ve all got their predilections. The deal is, in case your parents somehow neglected to share this, vampires and the wizards are basically at truce and the vamps like it that way and stays that way only if they don’t eat too many people. But there’s this loophole that their lawyers put in like two centuries ago that any wizard who collaborates with them is solely responsible for the deaths even if the vampires execute. So four thousand dead people would be on just us two and Miller wouldn’t get Clinton to drop holy hell on the scourge."

“We found that price a little high, and we thought we could make do with less. Eventually they went with one thousand civilians for two elders and three fulls. Liz and I looked at each other, still worried about it. So the Chieftain said we could just get a hundred people, couldn’t be concentrated in any one place, if one of us would “ascend,” he called it, which meant to get bitten and converted, and take an unbreakable oath to faithfully serve the vamps for ten years. Apparently they covet wizard recruits. Liz and I said we needed to think about it. We went back to our house. Talked about it. About what Putnam had done, what he was. We agreed to flip a coin. I lost. Went to sleep. When I woke up she…had already gone and when I got to Bolivia and they’d bitten her and she was bedridden, recovering, they said I couldn’t see her. Two elders approached me, introduced themselves. Said they and the fulls would be ready to go when I rounded up the people.”

“Well we’d agreed to do it. It took me about a month to find that many folks I didn’t think the world needed. At that point I was…sort of a different person. It passed in a blur. Vamps were pleased. And we went on the offensive together, this time Liz joining."

“It’d always been close between us. But New-Liz fucking owned. We were approaching the complex again and the dog spirits came and I didn’t detect them, too fast, way too fast for a human and she picked them out and demolished them with a bout of fire to rival yours Jess, but way more focused, didn’t break a fucking sweat. The walls were made out of something to repel any magic, we got within twenty feet and then were under massive attack, guns, spells, the works, until one of the Elders, dude just transforms into this fifty foot monster like a huge scaled gargoyle, just went up and kicked a hole in this thing, probably ten feet thick and built of something a lot like steel, dude just crushes it, and then turns right back into a little guy in a robe. That scared the shit out of the residents, guards, reserve strike teams, a bunch of their wives and children and stuff. Whole little town in there, marketplace and church and everything. Turned out the dogs were the best offense and the walls their best defense and they didn’t have much else. We killed them all. The Elders ate most of them. Liz ate too. She had changed. The woman I knew, long gone. The conversion, it does something to your preferences, to your thinking."

“Found the horcrux deep in some basement, destroyed it. Used fiendfyre to destroy the whole fort actually. Did the same thing at the PNG fort. They had a dragon chained up outside. The elders chopped off its chains, and then told me to cast a self-deafening spell because they were going to roar. I did, they opened their mouths and whatever came out scared the dragon enough that it just scrammed. A sizable portion of the guards on the wall just fell off right then, 30 feet down. We took down the rest. Found another horcrux, burned the place down, killed all inhabitants, you know."

“We had thought Putnam just had those two forts but we basically scoured the earth for anything else. Couldn’t find anything, and the vamps can really look, they say they lock onto Horcruxes from a few hundred miles away, something about a spiritual affinity. So there could be some enchantment we don’t know anything about. But the vampires assured me that if we found another one, I would just have to notify them, or they would notify me, and they’d fulfill the contract. They’ve got a long time horizon."

“Liz went back with them. I went back to your parents’ crew. Honestly I think if your mom had been there Jess, they would have let me back in, not made me talk about it. But word had gotten out. I left. I’ve been hunting Putnam’s former supporters. It’s not a great life but I’m doing all right. I average a few confirmed kills a month, not super easy to get rid of them without alarming the rest, a lot of them have prominent positions in various governments. Usually I make it look like internal politics. Haven’t seen Liz. Been picking off Death Eaters when I can. The four I just got will be a nice addition to the tally."

“So what’ve you all been up to? Word is, Death Eaters tried to get Potter, eleven ate it; some of them think that he’s got, like, invisible, gun-wielding demons protecting him. Y’all there for that?"

No one said anything. He had told the story so dispassionately it made my hair stand on end.

[We need to get out. Now. He’s exactly the wrong person for you two to talk to. Please let’s just go.]

[No. We invited him here. He’s not a threat. We should tell him about what we’ve seen.]

[I know I know that seems right but this man’ll kill us. I’m so scared and I love you and please just let’s go, say something if you need to let’s just go]

[Sarah get a grip. We already knew everything he told us in broad outline. Yeah he’s freaking ice but he might be able to make real moves]

“You know I could listen in if I wanted to, right?" he asked, looking right at me.

“Does the story I told upset you? It’s probably you, isn’t it, Sarah. Lev loved my Darren like only a teenager can. Jess lost her mom, Jess did what it took to protect everyone else. You have doubts. You’ve been lucky. I’ll say this. Just tell me what you know, what you’ve learned this year, who’s strong and weak. That seems fair. Lev, you said you wanted to discuss plans. Sarah you don’t like that, maybe you get out of here."

“Don’t you even suggest that we’d do a goddamn thing without her," Lev said, hand darting across the table to point at Jordan, who just put his hands up.

“Whoa, whoa, champ, I’m not threatening her. I’m just saying if she doesn’t like it, she doesn’t need to sanction it. She’ll be safe getting out of here."

“It’s fine, it’s fine," I said. “I understood your point as you intended it. We’ll tell you about what we’ve learned this year. It hasn’t been much. Then we’re leaving. You can make whatever plans you need. I don’t want to be involved. And I think I deserve at least a day to convince these two not to associate with you either. But after that, if they still want to talk with you, I’m not the boss here. Jess, Lev, do you agree?"

“Yes."

“Always."

“All right. All right. We’ll tell you about the past few months here. About our work over the summer. Then I don’t want to ever see you again Jordan. You’re gone. You said Liz was gone. But it’s you."

Jordan regarded me.

“Maybe you’re right,” he said. “It’s hard for me to tell. One time when the elders were moving around a lot of power, I fell in. For a second, I thought I understood them, their reason for being, and my head felt like it was going to explode and then it was gone. But the sensation that something that preys on humans has a purpose in the fabric all the same, yeah, I’m different. Who says our interests should matter most? I just know that Jonathan Putnam killed my son. And I’ll do what it takes to eradicate his fucking memory from the Earth. They’ll be afraid to whisper his name when I’m done. I hope you’re never here. Now, let’s talk about what you’ve been up to.”

The similarity of his words to Jess’s at the funeral, I thought. Of their worldviews. This was the end of the line for the three of us. I couldn’t see straight. Lev spoke instead. He reviewed the summer and the year. He left next to nothing out. When he mentioned that he’d been sorted into Slytherin, Jordan said, “that makes sense. I would’ve been there too. Slytherin himself prized efficiency and order above everything else. He just thought rule by the pure bloods was the best way to get there."

As Lev finished up, I drank my drink, and then Jess’s. Jordan gave us a rather abrupt goodbye, told us to get in touch again if we were interested in getting serious, put some coins on the table and left. Lev and I cried. Jess, sitting in between us, put her arms around our shoulders. After a while we walked home.

“Sarah. If you want us not to talk to him…it’s enough. It’s enough that you just get a bad feeling from him. If you really think it’s a bad idea I won’t. Can’t speak for Jess."

“Me too. That conversation. Man. When he talked about going out there, it just made my blood boil. I wish I had been there. What I would have done. I know that’s what you’re worried about. What do you think?"

“I…I am not your mothers. I don’t want to meet him. Ever again if I can avoid it. And I want you guys to brief me before you go on the offensive, if you do."

“All right. Jess and I will talk about it. Can we sleep in the tent tonight?"

“Yeah. Meet me by the brook, I’ll go back and get it."

We piled our mattresses into the main room and veiled the whole structure.

“I can’t lose you guys."

“Nothing’s written yet, sweetheart."

“But you’re getting ready."

“We’re here now Sarah."

“Jordan, he’s…"

“Crazy?"

“Evil. It doesn’t have to be raving, foaming at the mouth. It can just be, really really certain that you’re right, that you’re in the right, that’s enough."

“That word has many shades I think."

“Oh God Lev. You’d follow him anywhere wouldn’t you."

“Not if you’re still here. Not if Jess is, or Gemma."

“I’m going to lose you guys. I know it."

“Sleep, Sarah. We’ve got you. Just sleep."

**Part III**

_“Just as you carried out a policy of not wanting to share the earth with the Jewish people and the people of other nations– as though you and your superiors had any right to determine who should and who should not inhabit the world– we find that no one, that is, no member of the human race, can be expected to want you to share the earth with them. This is the reason, and the only reason, you must hang."_

–Hannah Arendt, _Eichmann in Jerusalem_

**Chapter 14**

**Jess’s diary**

12/28/97 10:15 pm

J’s idea worked. L+I met him in Armonk, went to some stupid town in Wales, J took us to some empty house with an open layout. Lev whispered the name, jetted, three big guys came in, I put them to sleep, J shot two, strapped a bomb vest to the third guy, we beat him to near-death with crowbars. Woke him up, broke his mind – easy with someone in that condition. Got him to take us back to his base, some estate near Oxford the guy said, gated, looked like money. Dude said only people with the DE tattoo can get in, we told him to detonate the moment he was in the door, three of us floated up. Jordan’s people do good work, house collapsed in on itself like someone letting the air out of a balloon, place was leveled, _then_ caught on fire, people came streaming out, panicked, and we got em, Jordan and me on the ground at close range, Lev up in the air. I guess he’s been practicing, kid’s marksmanship while hovering and apparating is scary. A few got away. Went down to confirm kills, mostly middle aged men, few women, some Slytherin kid. Got burgers.

Afterwards we caught up with the Sedona contingent. Lev’s parents asked where we went, Lev said that was private, his dad and a bunch of people started yelling, I think they detect the violence on us or something, Lev and I went back to back and began warding, Miller stepped in and everybody backed down. It was freaking tense. They haven’t brought it up since. I guess they realize that if I wanted to I could start withdrawing from the dead-parents-account and we could cut all ties and live anywhere. Sarah’s still 17 but us two – and forget the legal stuff, I actually think we could take them in a fight. It’s weird that there’s finally no possible coercion in our relationships. Paying for college for the three of us would be hard. Not if we go to one of the academies. Or we’ll trick someone into thinking we paid tuition I mean we’ll figure it out.

Relayed the experience to Sarah after dinner, while watching her parents kick G+N’s sorry asses – it’s nice to have them around, I like them both a lot, and it’s good for them to see people as technically skilled as Raj and Anand – and Sarah said she understood. It’s good enough for now.

The new girl Cho, I like her. Apparently she’s been training pretty full-time with the crew this year, taking time off before joining MI6. Pretty interesting back story, Sarah says she dated Potter, dated some guy Tom killed. Said she thought her training was going well and asked us to go 1-on-1, and she was pretty cool about it when Lev cracked her jaw, I mean the fire and noise flush out strategy is a good one but she just isn’t skilled enough to keep it going _and_ keep moving _and_ keep veiled, and when Lev landed that punch, it wasn’t pretty. But once Sarah healed her up she asked him how he did it. I was happy. It’s good to see humility.

He never sleeps, the judge. He is dancing, dancing. Nobody will give me a straight answer on whether I can actually reach the demons. Jordan said even he didn’t fuck with it. Said he would have considered it if Liz hadn’t made the transformation and he’d cross that bridge if she went down. But I should know what the asking price is before I contact them. Mom would know what to do. Goddamnit.

11:24

1/15/98 1:15 am

It’s freaking sweet not holding back anymore. We might be taking a huge risk for no payoff but I guess it just seems like if our alibi has gotten us this far, people generally accept that we’re like, death-eater friends or something. We’ve started taking meals at each other’s tables and nobody does shit about it. Alecto came up to Lev while he was sitting with me and the Gryffindors last week and said he was disgracing Slytherin or whatever, Lev laughed, she deducted 30 points from him, Lev put his hands up and wipes her memory, says that he deserves 3000 points and that perhaps she had some business to attend to elsewhere, Alecto parrots right back “you deserve 3000 points, I have some business to attend to elsewhere" and just walks away. No other teacher saw as far as I could tell, although who knows? One of them fixed the scoreboard later, so I guess they knew something was up. Anyway the Gs thought it was tight, Seamus has been calling him Obi-Wan in the hallways, and that was pretty much all it took to get him into the clique. Awesome.

The Slytherins were hostile at first but I stood up and called Zabini a bitch when he said some shit about Sarah being a “paki," challenged him to a fight. He was all like, I don’t fight girls, and then after dinner I followed him back to camp Slytherin and checked him into a wall and then he decided that he probably needed to accept the challenge. Said I’d meet him there in 15 minutes, which was enough time to get just freaking everybody watching in a circle, I put the kid on the floor, pinned his arm and told him if he didn’t apologize to Sarah I’d break it, he apologized effusively. I let him go, he pulled his wand out when my back was turned, like we goddamn knew he would, and Sarah stepped up next to him and knocked his shoulder out of its socket, he dropped the wand and she snapped it. Guess that’s just what we do, break Slytherin’s shit. Malfoy was cheering though, I think he just wanted to see someone else eat it for once. Also these kids probably can’t like diagnose particular injuries just from sound and sight so who knows how serious they thought it was.

Z started screaming, asking Lev to help him or whatever. Lev leaned in and said loudly enough for everyone to hear, “Zabini, my dear, if you ever say anything about this to anyone, or ever pull a wand on any of us, I’ll kill your mom," and then rattled off her address. Anyway Z went to the hospital wing, none of us faced any discipline or anything. Guess he kept his mouth shut. Not coincidentally the two of them stopped hooking up then. I think Lev was sick of his pure-blood shit anyway.

The Hufflepuffs: boring. Future bureaucrats. Unobjectionable though, some of them might be on our team. Ravenclaws are all right. Haven’t seen Luna again after break, not sure what the story is. Seamus remains my best buddy outside my two, kid is just a rascal, I advised him to stop with the graffiti but he was pretty good, never got caught. The Carrows keep torturing him for talking back but he doesn’t seem to mind and Lavender’s just all over him when he’s wounded. She freaking ducks when she sees me though.

Anyway now we’ve got hangers on, and partly that’s about, people saw me beat up Zabini and Lev openly defy Alecto, and partly it’s that we’re just so, so far ahead of the rest of everybody. McGonagall’s been pushing us, which is tight. Woman is crazy smart. We were talking about Animagi, and she said that American laws were less strict, and asked us if we knew any, so Sarah got up and jaguar-ed and roared at Neville, who just about peed himself scrambling onto his desk, and when she turned back we laughed so hard at him M said we’d have to leave if we couldn’t pull it together. People have been bugging her though, asking if she could teach them. I think she’s getting tired of saying that it takes even very good wizards years to get down. A lot of people just wanted to see it again though, so on Friday we’re gonna transform and fight in the Room, get a betting pool going, Lev’s going to London to get some liquor. Should be fun.

Turns out you can fly out about three minutes from the edge of Hogsmeade and then you can apparate in and out without activating the siren, but we don’t even fucking bother anymore. Siren goes when we apparate back into town and the Death Eaters come out or whatever, armed for bear, probably because of what Jordan did back in November, and we just fly back to the castle. Siren stops on its own eventually. It might be really annoying to live in Hogsmeade this year. But I’d like to think we’re undermining perceptions of Death Eater legitimacy. People ask us what we do when we’re gone but we don’t say.

Go then, Jake says. There are other worlds than these. I certainly hope so. Still, I’m pretty happy here. It’s been a good year so far.

2:04

01/20/98 4:50 pm

Got in touch with Thaumiel. It was right there in the library, had to enchant Pince which I don’t feel great about but a) it was easy and b) that woman knows a lot, pointed me right to the right book. Chose a thing that looked badass but had a reputation for predictability. Book had everything, etiquette, time and place, suggested I bring something to eat because it’s a tough trip. The demon didn’t break the summoning circle, was polite and very orderly, graciously accepted the dead rabbit I gave him, looked like a human but short with these little wings, and huge eyes, like, a quarter of his face. Their – color? depth? something I don’t have a word for – was pretty scary but I didn’t look too close and he agreed to not offer any harm for the duration of the convo. I let him out and he we talked by the fire. Offered power, temporary or permanent options, named prices. Told him I’ll think about it. After that we just chatted, exchanged stories. I told him – not really “him" I guess, more of an it, but he personified as masculine to me anyway – about killing Putnam, he told me about a Roman wizard who leveled a city looking for his kidnapped wife.

I could pay. Depends how bad we need it.

12:10

02/18/98 9:10 am

So we’re training a big group now. It’s up to 20-30 hours/week, sometimes out on the grounds. It’s been good, half of the Gryffindors can fire a rifle – the ones the room gave us that have next to no recoil and are crazy accurate – and maybe a quarter can veil pretty well. Also a good call to review basic strategy/come up with a Hogwarts defense plan. We’ve got them in units now, which Lev suggested we call toons (I guess that makes Sarah Ender and me Petra? Or maybe we’re all Peter?), assigned them portions of the school to get comfortable with, reviewed strategy. It’s not quite a full-fledged army but it’s the next best thing. So it’s the Patils, Seamus, Corner, Neville, Goldstein and Bones with toons, and me, Ginny, and Lev doing coordination between units/free-radical backup, and Sarah runs the show. I guess they weren’t really surprised either to hear that we’d been behind the Ginny and Neville training group. They’d seen us work in McGonagall’s class, and suddenly G+N were giving these highly complex combat lessons, they put two and two together. 

Weak link whatever, if a kid gets mind-fucked they won’t see further than us, and I’m ready for those assholes.

I’m sometimes surprised by how much the Brits respect us. There’s something to be said for hierarchies based on clearly measurable skills. A week ago we had a one-on-one, throw somebody out of a translucent dome tournament, and there are pretty serious disparities so that gets rid of like 2/3 pretty fast, and then it’s just us three and Neville and Ginny, first up, Lev pushes Neville out and then me and him had a fun fight. Made the circle a little bigger for the hell of it, asked the room for like slo-mo cameras of the whole space, and Sarah put up a full-fledged, bi-directional spell-impermeable circle, which is goddamn complicated and impressive but I don’t think the Brits know that, and we went all out. Fight lasted about a minute, burned a bunch of my hair off and it came down to like a knife’s edge that when we finally made contact his hit was a little harder so I left the circle first, the room recorded it exactly like that, and people were like cheering and clapping, and Sarah gives Lev five minutes to recover, then steps up and sets up the same spell circle but from the inside.

And it was over in probably under 10 seconds. They both go invisible, I can still track them because of this freaking-school-telepathy-enhancing-shit but sure as hell no one else can, Lev starts throwing major league fire and lightning and Sarah is just teleporting in total silence in the cooler spaces in the fire’s wake, twice as fast as anyone should be able to move, gets her coil around his ankle, yanks him _up_ out of the dome, breaks the circle, then throws him down onto the floor, where just for good measure she’s already waiting unveiled and gets her clawed hand around his throat. I guess the Brits hadn’t really known how big the gap was. Ginny forfeited right then. Everybody else is silent with their mouths hanging open like idiots. Well you don’t see a world-class combat wizard go all out very often in a lifetime. On top of that we’ve been doing large-scale war-games, people taking turns as commander, and whenever Sarah’s up, her team wins. So that’s it then. She’s Supreme Allied Commander or whatever we end up calling her.

It was weird for a few days, people asking me questions about Sarah and how she got like that like I’m going to tell them some secret about a dark ritual or something. And I just keep telling them, practice. We train like crazy all the time and we have since we were kids and especially since armed psychopaths tried to wipe us out.

And these kids get it. They’ve lost a lot of people. Bones, that girl is tough as nails and I think she’s last woman standing in her family. She and Lev have been hanging out. I think she might his first friend since Darren died, which is nice.

The rest of them too. Last Tuesday middle of the night I couldn’t sleep so I went to the room to do some target practice and there were like 5 of ours already there. And we’ve got the skills they want to learn. People were spontaneously saluting to Sarah when they saw her until she asked them to stop. But still, our 30 are congealing around us. And it feels good.

And the claws played a part in that too, though I guess fear and respect aren’t the same thing. When we have them out no one wants to get within five feet, they’re extra cautious, not thinking straight, so we’ve been playing with them sheathed. But people know what’s up. God, when we showed them off for the first time. Four inch metal talon on each finger, come out when you say “grow," retract at “retract." Lev sliced straight through the leg of a metal table, Sarah showed that you can still easily grip a gun or sword or something with them on. Seamus just starts laughing, asked for a pair of his own. Lev told him he’d knit him a pair when he had better hand-to-hand skills so he wouldn’t take his own eyes out.

When did we first think of trying the Wolverine thing? Guess when we were watching the cartoon back in middle school? Gloves were the breakthrough we needed. Can’t graft shit onto our hands, and wouldn’t want to, Sarah saw a way around it. Snape’s book has good shit on permanently altering the makeup of physical materials, room gave us a modern chem lab and a metal shop, messed with some prototypes, ended up with something lightweight, thin, strong, malleable. Sarah made the enchantments up, consulted a bit with Slughorn on some of the theory, and we worked.

But Lev’s enchantment skills needed to step up too. He’s been teaching a group of them and he said that doing so made him just a ton better. The gloves are his best work.

Sarah, my captain the spell-maker, the girl is a demon. I’ve got more straight firepower I think but her speed advantage is insurmountable. And I wonder about Lev, how many better assassins out there? His aim while flying and invisible is incredible. He could drop someone in Sarah’s league if he ambushed her. He has skills that would be in demand. I don’t think it would be a good life.

We’re kicking it though. I’m having a great time working with them. And I should admit that I’m enjoying their admiration/awe. We earned it.

2/22/98 10:32 pm

No more bomb missions, the DEs got savvy. We did the same lure and they sent one in to investigate, we subdued him, and then a bunch more came out from behind veils and started firing. Last one in looked insane and she had her own vest on, assholes taking our best idea, and Jordan broadcast for us to get out immediately, anti-disapparation spell had already been cast but we got a few thousand feet straight up and bailed. Too close. Reconvened at his place, told us he knew the woman whom we’d seen, a friend from the old times, must have been under the imperius curse or something. Still the missions were pretty successful. Jordan put our known kill count at 65, which is not bad, considering that we’re almost certainly under-counting, and zero casualties. Well I guess the woman Jordan knew counts. But she was dead in the water anyway. Sucks to get caught.

Sarah thinks Snape deliberately gave us that intel. That if he knew Lucas, then he knows about our crew and probably has the whole thing figured out. I don’t know man. Killing Dumbledore’s a pretty big strike against him. But we weren’t there so who knows.

So, yeah. We’re hanging out, waiting. Still training. Sometimes with everybody in the room, sometimes just the three of us in the Forest, or us three and Neville, Ginny and Seamus. Sometimes we see teachers out there, and some of them pretend not to see us and others yell at us and we just confound them and keep going. We’ve been going home a lot, checking in with the crew. Don’t know how he swung it but Lev told them that he had reliable information that Jordan had been exploiting the Tom thing but had stopped because the DEs had gotten their shit together, didn’t tell them how he got that information. I bet his folks are worried. Fuck it though. Part of the plan was to improvise. We got intelligence and we acted on it. And I figure, we must be tying up some percentage of DE resources, maybe that’s helping HP and his crew out. I wonder how they’re doing. I’m assuming they’re still alive which TBH is better than I expected.

Also Sarah got into Yale and I guess she’s going there next year. It’s looking like Lev and I are going to the Naval academy together which should be cool, Nate said their wizard training group was solid.

11:00

2/26/98 12:05 am

Holy fucking shit have these past few days sucked. I’m feeling better. Can do magic again. Classes were bad. McGonagall asked what was wrong and I nearly lost it. Guess now I know what it was like for Sarah to be there, then. At the attack. God it was worse than that. A tailored apocalypse. who was the man in blue

But it worked, put me and Neville and Lev and Seamus and Ginny on the ground. And I’ve seen some pretty fucking severe post-trauma stress but I really thought for a moment we weren’t going to get Ginny back, that she was just going to sit there screaming forever. Neville, man. He talked to her. Love trumps. Sarah said she felt horrible afterwards, both doing it and because she’d done it to us. Anybody can kill a man. That was Snowden’s secret. Drop him out a window, and he’ll fall. Takes a different skill set to upend one, to make him want to kill himself. It might have been the worst experience of my life.

Sometimes it seems like Sarah’s the only thing keeping us tethered. But she’s just one step from being another Jordan and then where would we be? Fucking everything is nothing and I’m literally holding a part of my soul in my hand. Stupid and inadequate. Hysterical and useless. At least there’s Radiohead.

I’m going to fucking punch Sarah for putting me through that. How could she? How could she?

2/28/98 10:30 pm

I did. Crossing paths in the hallway. She saw it coming and didn’t do anything. She said she was sorry again and that she loved me. Nobody knew what to do and Ginny started screaming at her, looked like she was going to go down after her, Sarah sitting on the ground with her eye swelling shut, but Padma steered Ginny away and we kept walking.

Fuck everything, I still love her. I’ll forgive her. I wonder sometimes if the DEs’ kids will ever forgive me and Lev. I guess if it comes to it I’ll kill them too. 10:41

3/09/98 11:12 pm

Neville’s on the run, living in the Room and getting food from some shopkeeper. Still wants to train. Told us they went after his grandma and she put a guy in the hospital, which, goddamn, that’s sweet. It’s funny that it wasn’t when they tried to steal Gryffindor’s sword last semester that tipped it, but apparently Amycus heard him talking shit about Alecto and after they went after Augusta he got word from Minerva and realized all bets were off. He asked us to stop holding back so much. I feel bad sometimes. That scar under his eye isn’t going to fade I think, but I told him I thought it looked badass, and he blushed. He’s such a sweetheart. The soft kid we saw get his ass kicked by the Carrows is gone. He can take a punch with the best of them.

He’s dealt with his share of real shit too. Lev and he did the memory-attack thing to each other, Lev hit the kid with what it was like to see Darren and my mom get brought in and then me go down, the “savagery of the next few black minutes" he said, and Neville hit him right back with the helplessness he felt when Bellatrix got busted out of Azkaban, the shame he used to feel about his parents. Neither of them can do what Sarah did but we can all make someone feel like they were there. Lev cried. I rocked him and the room gave us a couch and he went to sleep.

I forget sometimes how damaged he is. My dear. This was good. How out of control he was, back after the attack, when his magic came back, when he’d just break down at unexpected moments and things would start exploding. The time I tackled him and took the two of us out to nowhere so he wouldn’t hurt anyone. But this time it was just him. Maybe healing isn’t out of reach. 12:00.

3/22/98 3:33 am

Cho’s joined us now, at Nate’s suggestion, sleeping in the room most nights. Bunch of Gryffindors followed suit, room got bigger and got a girl’s quarter. Getting food from some shopkeeper or something. Place has turned into a real home, nice bathrooms. I wonder who’s having sex? The Brits are weirdly coy sometimes. Anyway, Cho is a champ at this point, fast and creative and when she gets amped up, vicious. Past year has been great for her, and everybody really respects and likes her, so she got a toon. Bones is on team guerrilla tactics with me and Lev, which is a better fit, and Lev knit her a pair of clawed gloves, which she’s psyched about.

Cho’s basically second-in-command now. I’m down with it. Cho’s smart, inspires loyalty, sees the big picture. I prefer small theater. And Lev was born for sabotage. People were talking about making Cho in charge of the whole operation but Cho knows what’s up, called Sarah a “clearly superior tactician and fighter." Goddamn right she is. Sarah thoroughly kicked her ass a few months ago in Sedona and I guess Cho hasn’t forgotten.

Lieutenant General Chang. I like that.

Haven’t been going back home much lately. Lev’s parents always seem like they’re about to yell at him about something. I think they know, somehow, about Jordan and all that. It’s been uncomfortable. But I don’t mind. I like it here. Been going to Levs’s grandpa’s place in the outback a bit. Lucas is a good guy, gives us good meals. Doesn’t ask too many questions. Knows things are tense between Lev and his folks.

I told Peter we should stop seeing each other. He’s a nice guy but I don’t find his drama as entertaining as I once did. It’s happening, I can feel it in my bones. We’re gonna go all out. Crew said the Horcrux would take away your ability to feel deeply. I don’t know, I’m pretty happy right now. The song. The fucking song we’ll sing over their bones, loved one.

4/18 about 10

Carrows are in open panic now. Snape’s MIA, haven’t seen him in a couple weeks, takes meals in his office or something. So it’s just the Carrows repping the whole team and at this point even the Slytherins don’t respect them. Some of them or their parents might be on Tom’s side but at the end of the day they’re just teenagers. We just had to show them that the Carrows ain’t shit, and now it’s kind of chaos everywhere.

Ginny’s gone, they miss her bad. Apparently HP and crew had a close encounter with the DEs and now they know the Weasleys are in our camp. Not sure why she went to her family and not hiding out with the Gs but she left in a hurry, I guess she had her reasons. Protect her folks or something. I miss her. She was, I don’t know, someone non-judgey to talk to. And damn her blindfolded accuracy with those knives, she’s like a jedi or something. But it’s going down. I’m pretty excited. People been coming up to us asking if there’s a plan. I tell them, if they make a move, we kill them all. Even if they don’t, maybe we should kill them all. The Gryffindors don’t like that plan for some reason, don’t think it’s specific enough. I think it’s very specific, covers all cases. Bones said it was the best plan she’d ever heard.

It’s nice out, I’ll ask S+L if they want to set up hammocks by the lake.

**Part IV**

_“Professor McGonagall has not grown up with the Muggle concept of the increasing power of science, and nobody’s ever told her that when a friend’s life is at stake is a time when you need to_ think very rationally –"

–Eliezer Yudkowsky, _Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality_

**Chapter 15**

**Sarah**

[Harry’s back] Neville broadcast. [Be in the room in five minutes.]

The three of us were at dinner when the call came, and in seconds we had left the table and were going to our dorm rooms, along with everyone else we’d organized who wasn’t already living in the room. I got the chest out from under my bed and put on exactly the gear I had set aside for the occasion – off with the robes and, on top of the clawed gloves and reasonably fire and bulletproof synthetic first layer I always wore, I put on the spell resistant jeans and hoodie, the black zip up jacket with the veils Lev had planted in, bullet proof cap, my coil, two pistols, two uzis, and a granola bar, everything in every pocket and belt loop and sleeve I had, and was out the door, veiled. When I got there I found the usual suspects, thirty students or so, and my two. I was at least passable as unarmed at first glance, but Jess and Lev had all their weapons out, the AR and the M24 crisscrossed against Lev’s back, Jess’s sidearms every which way around her waist, both in leather jackets and jeans, both working up a sweat on a punching bag. I joined in.

“You ready?"

“So fucking ready."

“Amped."

“What’s the play?"

“Harry’s guard?"

“If he wants."

“He’s come back for insurrection? Or something he needs?"

“Let’s ask him."

“Dude I’m so jacked up I can’t think straight. You’re in command?"

“Yes. I’ve got this."

“Should we tell everybody?"

“Sure. Can one of you nominate me?"

“Yes."

Lev whistled to get everyone’s attention.

“I’m glad to see you all here. We don’t know what Harry needs yet, but if it’s something in the school, we should help him, agreed?"

Chorus of assent.

“We’re thinking if Harry gets here, there’s gonna be Death Eaters. Maybe a chance to get back at some of them. Since few of you have real combat experience, it might be helpful to formalize chain of command. I vote Sarah. Any objections?"

Again, general agreement.

“Thanks," I said. “Cho is in command if I am absent. Other than that, follow your toon leaders. Are you with me? If you get an order that doesn’t make sense to you, will you follow it?" 

No one said anything, and some of them looked at Cho.

“Until death, girl," Cho said, saluting. “Dumbledore’s Army."

Her tactical gear looked a lot like ours, accentuated by the heavily modified AK-47 strapped to her back.

“We’re ready," Seamus said.

Everyone gave some kind of assent of fealty at that point, some people saluting, some kneeling, some just speaking. I was proud. We’d built this thing. Jess and Lev put a hand each on my shoulders.

“He’s coming, he’s coming!" Colin shouted.

Neville led Harry’s group through, and they were immediately mobbed. I took advantage of the distraction to approach Hermione.

“We’re here for you. What do you need?"

“We’re looking for something."

“A horcrux?"

“…"

“Doesn’t matter. You know where it might be?"

“Harry thinks it might have something to do with Ravenclaw."

“And your opinion?"

“I haven’t a clue. His intuitions have been good so far though. And you would not believe the day we’re having right now."

“Ok. We’ll do everything we can to help."

“Thanks."

I stepped back to my crowd and caught Seamus asking, “What’s the plan Harry?"

Harry told them that he had something to do that they couldn’t help with, and everybody got mad at that. While he tried to explain, Luna, Ginny, and a guy with dreadlocks I didn’t know showed up. Harry looked confused and afraid, when suddenly Ron said: “why can’t they help?"

“What?"

They conferenced privately. I made a minimal effort to eavesdrop and confirmed that they thought a horcrux was in the school. After that, Harry told everyone he was looking for something of Ravenclaw’s; Luna informed him that it could be the lost diadem; no one knew what it looked like, and Cho volunteered to lead him there.

“We need to move," Harry told his two.

“No, Luna will take Harry, won’t you, Luna?" Ginny said.

Luna agreed.

“Ginny, cut the bullshit," I said. “Luna will go, and I’m coming too. Cho, oversee deployment. Hermione, yes or no, is You-Know-Who coming?"

“…Yes."

“Well, that simplifies things. Lev, stay in the room and work on getting everyone armed and contacting our crew. Jess, activate the school’s defenses. Toons A-D, to the turrets. If I don't see you again, good luck. Cho, E, F, and G are at your discretion. All units, suit up and go."

Jess set off first, veiling en route. Anthony Goldstein, Padma Patil, Seamus Finnegan, and Michael Corner conferred with their toons and set off to the turrets. Harry, Luna and I followed out the exit cupboard and up the torch-lit staircase that deposited us somewhere different every evening. Before we emerged, Harry and Luna got under his invisibility cloak; I followed along behind, invisible and off the ground, one hand on the coil grip and the other free.

When we got inside the Ravenclaw common room, Harry stepped out from under the cloak, and read the words on the central statue aloud.

“Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure…"

“Which makes you pretty skint, witless," crowed Alecto, stepping out of a veil. Harry fell on his ass; Alecto touched the mark on her wrist; and Luna saved the woman’s life by stunning her a moment before my coil found her neck.

“Hide, now!" I hissed. The two of them got under Harry’s cloak as Ravenclaws started streaming out in their pajamas. I was trying to figure out the best way to explain the situation to everyone when Amycus started pounding on the door.

“ALECTO! If he comes, and we haven’t got Potter– d’you want to go the same way as the Malfoys? ANSWER ME!" he screamed.

McGonagall, I heard, came to the door and answered a riddle, at which point the two of them entered. Every Ravenclaw scrammed.

“What’ve they done, the little whelps? I’ll cruciate the lot of ’em till they tell me who did it– and what’s the Dark Lord going to say? We haven’t got him, and they’ve gone and killed her!"

“She’s only stunned," said McGonagall. “She’ll be perfectly all right."

“No she bludgering well won’t! Not after the Dark Lord gets hold of her! She’s gone and sent for him, I felt me Mark burn, and he thinks we’ve got Potter!"

“Got Potter?" said McGonagall sharply. “What do you mean, got Potter?"

“He told us Potter might try and get inside Ravenclaw Tower, and to send for him if we caught him!"

I couldn’t detect anyone hidden, but spent almost a minute checking that I was right. Their conversation proceeded, But before I did anything, Amycus spat in Minerva’s face, and Harry came out from the cloak and Crucio-ed the man. Amycus was lifted off the ground, writhing, and fell unconscious. Minerva and Harry had a reunion.

I stepped out from the veil, briefly greeted McGonagall, and, in a few simple spells, bound and tied the Carrows to a nearby desk. For good measure I deepened their rest. The Ravenclaws were beginning to peek in from their doorways. None entered the common space.

Harry and McGonagall had barely taken notice of me, and I caught Harry saying: “Professor McGonagall, Voldemort’s on the way."

McGonagall took the news badly, sinking into a nearby chair.

“You must flee!" she said.

“I can’t! There’s something I need to do. Professor, do you know where the diadem of Ravenclaw is?"

“The d-diadem of Ravenclaw? Of course not, hasn’t it been lost for centuries? Potter, it was madness, utter madness, for you to enter this castle.”

“I had to, Professor, there’s something here that I’m supposed to find, and it could be the diadem – if I could just speak to Professor Flitwick…"

Harry leaned down and clutched his head. Luna looked curious, McGonagall concerned.

“Time’s running out, Vodlermort’s getting nearer. Professor, I’m acting on Dumbledore’s orders, I must find what he wanted me to find! But we’ve got to get the students out while I’m searching the castle – it’s me Voldermort wants, but he won’t care about killing a few more or less, not now."

“You’re acting on Dumbledore’s orders?" she asked. She looked around the room. “We shall secure the school against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named while you search for this– this object."

“Is that possible?"

“I think so. We teachers are rather good at magic, you know."

“Professor," I said, “Jess is securing the turrets at this very moment."

“Why…thank you Sarah, I’m sure that will help."

“Do you have a plan?"

“Yes, the school has certain automatic defenses…I’m sorry, what have you done with the Carrows?"

“I’m preparing to either execute or take them as hostages. I meant a more specific plan in the event of invasion?"

“I must consult with the heads of houses. And also, I suppose, have a word with Professor Snape."

“Ok. Please do so. Forgive me Minerva, but we need to move quickly, my crew is coming. Do you have any knowledge about whether Voldermort cares for these two? Whether he’ll negotiate for their lives?"

“I…sincerely doubt it, Ms. Lahiri. But there might be others in his command who do and who will."

“Ok then," I said. “Excuse me."

I walked over to the Carrows and kneeled by them.

“Grow," I said. The claws came out. I heard gasps from behind me.

I rolled Amycus’s sleeves up and put my hands around his forearms, directly above the tattoo. I squeezed, and the claws severed his arms. I moved over a few feet and did the same to Alecto. I waved my hand and transfigured their severed arms and the spilled blood into dust. A few breaths later, I said: “innervate."

They woke up, took stock of their situation, and panicked. Alecto screamed in pain and struggled against her bindings. Amycus looked like he was going to pass out.

“Imperio," I said.

The two of them stopped making any noise. I took their arms in my hands one at a time and cauterized the wounds with fire.

“Look at me," I said. “Stay here. Be silent. If anybody besides me, Minerva, Lev or Jess attempts to free you, you will resist by any means possible. If one of you attempts to contact the Dark Lord, the other of you will attempt to kill them."

They nodded.

I turned back to McGonagall. She and Harry were staring at me with naked horror. Luna showed nothing.

“Two perfect hostages, at your disposal," I said. “Let’s find Flitwick."

Harry and Luna got under the cloak; I veiled, and McGonagall summoned three patronuses (now that was tricky – I was impressed) to contact the other Heads of Houses. On our way out, I glanced back at the Carrows. A few of the older Ravenclaws had walked up to them, inspecting their wounds.

[Any of you kill them, and I’ll kill you] I broadcast to the general area. The Ravenclaws startled and looked around. I closed the door and followed McGonagall.

Two corridors later I heard a set of quiet footsteps.

“Who’s there?" McGonagall asked.

“It is I," replied Snape, stepping out from behind a suit of armor. “Where are the Carrows?"

“Wherever you told them to be, I expect, Severus."

“I was under the impression that Alecto had apprehended an intruder."

They kept bantering. I was waiting to see how the situation unfolded when suddenly McGonagall struck, but Snape shielded immediately, before Minerva funneled a torch into a whirlwind of fire, which Snape reflected back as a giant snake apparition. Minerva in turn transformed that into a hail of daggers, from which Snape took refuge behind the same suit of armor. They were fast and skilled, easily in league with my crew, but I couldn’t believe the non-lethal magic they were using. I moved Harry and Luna towards a wall and put a shield up between us and the teachers, preparing to intervene – but then Flitwick, Sprout and Slughorn came ambling into sight. “No!" shouted Flitwick. “You’ll do no more murder at Hogwarts!"

The little man aimed his wand at the suit of armor in front of Snape, which then tried to restrain him. Snape squirmed out and ran. He made it through a classroom door, McGonagall in hot pursuit. Seconds later she shrieked: “coward! COWARD!"

I was the next one in, and saw Snape flying away. He wasn’t more than five hundred feet away. I could hit him. Especially if I flew after, if he wasn’t expecting anyone.

I hesitated.

Snape moved quickly.

The opportunity was gone.

The professors caught up and acted surprised that Harry was there. But Harry clutched his forehead again and said, “Professor we’ve got to barricade the school, he’s coming now!"

McGonagall declared that they should let any of-age students stay and fight and suggested getting everyone together in the Great Hall. I thought this was a great plan, and McGonagall had more authority to make it happen that I did. Harry asked Flitwick about the diadem, to which he replied that no one in living memory had seen it. We were approached by the caretaker, whom McGonagall ordered to get the poltergeist, whom I quite liked and with whom Lev had once absolutely trashed Alecto’s office. She then woke a suit of armor and commanded:

“Hogwarts is threatened! Man the boundaries, protect us, do your duty to the school!"

Every statue and suit in sight began moving.

“Now Potter," she said,“you and Miss Lovegood had better return to your friends and bring them to the Great Hall. I shall rouse the other Gryffindors."

I followed Harry to the Room again, which we found crowded with the Order and some folks I didn’t know. Jordan was in a corner, tending to a rifle. Lupin was speaking to Lev, and a couple of the older members were inspecting a table of weapons. “What’s going on?" George asked.

“They’re evacuating the younger kids and everyone’s meeting in the Great Hall to get organized," Harry said. “We’re fighting."

Two dozen people started cheering. There was a great commotion, and people moved for the stairs. As they filed out, Jess came into the room and gestured to the two of us.

“Defenses are up. I got joined by some suits of armor halfway through. Anything tries to come up through the turrets or through the windows and they’re gonna get a spear in the face. A through D in place. It’s not perfect but anything puts a real effort and there should be a klaxon going up – Lev what’s wrong?"

I looked at him. I hadn’t noticed. So immersed in my trajectory. Lev was at the point of breakdown. Like I hadn’t seen him in years. His cheeks were flushed, and he was shaking. There was a sense of distorted reality in the air around him.

“I can’t get in touch with the crew. They’re in trouble."

**Chapter 16**

**Raj**

My daughter has asked me to explain to you the lure that left us unable to intervene the day the man with the fractured soul attacked his schoolhouse like that will help. But you do not need my words, I think. You need a reboot. This was the wrong universe to be born in, so burn it down.

The wards incinerated masses of our would-be-killers but they came through brute force and we had withdrawn our children and old and it was the seven of us waiting with knives out dancing and laughing amidst them their bodies entropic and distended and they took us elsewhere thinking they could outcompete on a different court fool fools fools, fools.

No, we. Too off-script to wonder if some few hundred sentient things would die to keep us from the main stage. I suppose our adversary or the cosmic child for whom we are playthings would not think of the men we killed as having moral status and so it would not constrain the author for a moment to have them walk grinning into the abattoir.

And my daughter knew none of it. She must have been so scared. So we were not there for her. Of course I am ashamed. Is that what you want me to write, Sarah? That we were the idiots?

**Chapter 17**

**Sarah**

Jess stood behind Lev and threaded her arms around him and he sank into her.

“What did you see?" I asked.

“Nothing. Calls didn’t go through. Room gave me this fucking stone that extended my telepathy, I heard nothing, white noise. Asked to see what they were seeing. Saw a little screen on the wall. They’re under attack. Couldn’t tell what was happening, just spells flying. Screen cut off. Room didn’t have enough power or something to keep it going. Talked to Lupin. Said he hadn’t heard anything."

“Jordan you got through to no problem?"

“Yes."

My stomach turned as I did the math.

“This is no coincidence," I said.

“That’s right," Jordan said. He had walked over while I wasn’t looking. “This is a full-out assault. Voldemort has more resources than we knew. He wants to wipe out Harry and your crew in one swoop."

“What the fuck," Jess said, “are we going to do?"

No one spoke. Jordan looked at me and raised his eyebrows.

“Lev, did you get any indication of where they were?"

“No."

“Did you…leave some sort of message?"

“Yes. Any of them goes home, or anywhere we regularly go, they’ll see an alarm. It’ll communicate that we’re under attack."

“Is there anything else you can think to do?"

“No."

“Then…I think we should stick to the plan. Maybe try again in half an hour or so. Lupin have anything to say?"

“Yeah. He said the same thing. Said word would get around, half the wizards in the world are going to show up here."

“Your head on straight? You gonna be able to fight?"

“…Yeah."

He took a few deep breaths.

“Good. Because you know the best thing we can do for them is to protect Harry, make sure Voldermort goes down."

“Well said," Jordan murmured.

“Jess?"

“I…" She paused. “It’s not my family on the line. You know what I’m about."

“Can I count on you two?"

“Yes."

“Yes."

“All right. Let’s join the group."

Lev put on what would have to pass for a calm facade. Jess did the same. As I walked away, she put her hands in his hair and pulled him in close, whispering something I couldn’t hear.

I focused on the rest of the group. The Weasleys had been joined by another brother, and it looked as though Mrs. Weasley had told Ginny to sit this one out. I reached out to her.

[I’ll get in touch soon and put you someplace where your family isn’t.]

[Thank you.]

[Of course.]

[I’m scared Sarah.]

[Just kill as many as you can.]

Lupin looked at the three of us.

“Weasley clan," he said, “for what it’s worth, this isn’t really our show. Kids, what’s the play?"

“Down to the Great Hall," I said. “Unless one of you is particularly good with any kind of long range arms, then I can already assign you to Turret D, which has the best vantage."

“Can’t say that I am."

“Ok. Great hall. Jess and Lev take the rear, Bill and Arthur, wings. Lupin you and me in front. I’ll be invisible but have a mirage cast next to myself. Any of you that can get invisible, do. We move now."

**Chapter 18**

Downstairs the teachers were organizing students. Kingsley was talking to Flitwick and Slughorn when I approached him. He excused himself, and he and I parlayed.

“Your crew knows we’re under attack here."

“You spoke to them?"

“Briefly, to Nate. I was alerting them that Voldermort was en route when I heard the attack commence. I went to Sedona to investigate, everyone was gone. Your camp is in ruins, but I didn’t see any bodies. I couldn’t track them. We came here."

“That’s all you know?"

“Yes."

“God fucking dammit Kingsley."

“I know."

“So we’re here?"

“Yes. We’re here. Is that Jordan Loew with Lev and Jess?"

“Yes."

“He’s wanted. If you knew–"

“I do know. He’s with us."

“If you say so. If I’m standing when this is over, he’s under arrest. Your parents told me that you were organizing a school defense plan. What do I need to know?"

“All four turrets have significant fortifications which we’ve augmented through the year, each has four snipers we’ve stationed on top, units A-D. McGonagall has supplemented with some school based spells we never dreamed of. Space is tight so add wisely. Other than that, seven exits to the school. We’ve sealed each but none can take a full assault, they need to be patrolled. Grounds are no-man’s land. Main entrance is strong, but won’t withstand Voldermort. I’ve got, units E through G, all reasonably competent, here with me – there, the ones huddling. Unit E is for recon. Neville’s and Cho’s groups are the most multi-purpose. No equivalent plan for adults, don’t know enough about their abilities. I need you for that."

“Sarah, this is excellent. Excellent. What is Harry doing?"

“Looking for Voldemort’s Horcrux."

“Mother of Christ. Why would he put it here?"

“No idea. But, a) Harry can read his mind, b) Voldermort is coming here, and c) he told the Carrows that Harry might go to Ravenclaw tower, so evidence points to Harry being right. The Carrows are docile hostages in the Ravenclaw common room."

Kingsley bowed his head.

“Your crew told me I could count on you, but I didn’t understand. This is better than we could have hoped for. Thank you."

“You’re welcome. I know the politics of this are delicate. Are you comfortable announcing that you’re leading?"

“I’ll have better command of the adults. But stick by me and we’ll do this."

“I’m–"

I was cut off as I felt a spell begin. A high clear voice spoke. It seemed to come from everywhere, from right beside my ears to the ceiling.

“I KNOW YOU ARE PREPARING TO FIGHT."

People screamed.

“YOUR EFFORTS ARE FUTILE. YOU CANNOT FIGHT ME. I DO NOT WANT TO KILL YOU. I HAVE GREAT RESPECT FOR THE TEACHERS OF HOGWARTS. I DO NOT WANT TO SPILL MAGICAL BLOOD."

There was silence now.

“GIVE ME HARRY POTTER," Voldermort said, "AND NONE SHALL BE HARMED. GIVE ME HARRY POTTER AND I SHALL LEAVE THE SCHOOL UNTOUCHED. GIVE ME HARRY POTTER AND YOU SHALL BE REWARDED. YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT."

Pansy Parkinson, of all people, was the first to react.

“But he’s there! Potter’s there! Someone grab him!"

In one fluid motion, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff stood and faced her, wands out. Cho had gotten her team behind an overturned table the moment Voldermort began to speak, the barrels of their rifles protruding over and aimed at Pansy. Slytherin blanched. Jess looked at the tableau and laughed.

“Thank you, Miss Parkinson," Minerva said. “You will leave the Hall first with Mr. Filch. If the rest of your House could follow."

Slytherin decamped. The younger members of the other houses did as well. Kingsley gestured to me and we stood on top of a table. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to us. I projected a map of the school’s major defense points onto a wall as Kingsley laid the situation out. He delegated some professors to the towers, the Weasley twins to the hidden entrances (they volunteered, moreover), and said that he, Arthur and Lupin would lead teams to the grounds. He turned to me.

“For the non-students, this is Sarah Lahiri. If I’m not present she’s in command. Any additions?"

“Toon E with Fred and George," I said. “Parvati, you know the drill but if anything comes through, rabbit early. F and G, main hall, with me. Lev and Jess and Susan, get out there on the grounds, and butcher them. This isn’t an army we’re facing, put some heads on pikes and they’ll scare. Jordan you’re on your own and under my aegis; when this is over, scram. All of you, shoot to kill. Godspeed."

Parvati, Neville, and Cho nodded back and huddled with their teams. Lev and Bones were doing God-knows-what last minute checks on their rifles, murmuring to each other; Jess was doing a standard jujitsu warm-up. Jordan was sitting in a meditative pose behind them in a corner, watching. I sent up to Ginny: [your family will be on the mid levels and the grounds. Fred and George need you guarding the secret entrances. Stay veiled.]

[Got it] I heard back faintly.

People began to move. Harry was chasing some ghost; Ron and Hermione I’d lost track of. Parvati and co. were talking to Fred and George; Neville and Cho and their crews were in corners of the room, inspecting weak points. I joined my two. Jess watched the comings and goings and smiled. It had been about 15 minutes since Voldermort had addressed us. She tapped her throat twice and when she spoke, it was nearly as loud as Voldermort had been.

“YOU WANT HARRY, TOM RIDDLE? COME AND GET HIM YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Students roared and stomped on the ground. Minerva laughed.

A voice replied, coming in like Voldermort’s. Polite, upper-crust, American male. It wasn’t very loud, but it was clear, like listening to a conductor address a crowd unamplified in a good concert hall.

“Do I hear an American? Would you be part of the Stadler-Li crew? We’ve had the pleasure, perhaps, of a previous meeting?"

There was general confusion at that, and people mostly proceeded as if they hadn’t heard it. Lev and Jess looked at me. I looked at Jordan. He was already up and pouring what looked like blood on the floor in a summoning circle, roughly twenty feet away from us.

“It’s him," he said, “or someone who sounds just like him. It’s Putnam."

**Part V: Leaving**

**Chapter 19**

**Neville**

On July 18th of 2037, at 4:47 a.m., Neville Abbott-Longbottom was crouched and veiled in the warded corner of his bedroom with his hands on his weapons. Every bedroom of Neville’s since high school had had such a corner. Neville waited to see whether the threat was real or the after-image of a dream. After fifteen minutes or so, he dissolved the veil and returned to bed. Hannah stirred and looked at him.

“Sweetie. She said she was going to be here on Saturday."

“I know. I know."

“She couldn’t get in here anyway."

“Hannah. If she wanted in, she’d be in."

Hannah evidently didn’t have anything to say to that. She went back to sleep. Neville lay in bed for perhaps half an hour more, and then decided to begin preparing for the breakfast crowd. The Leaky Cauldron opened at 8. Albus Potter was scheduled to get in at 6:30.

A week earlier, a nattily dressed man had entered, sat down at a corner table by himself, ordered a beer and a pretzel, and told a waiter that he’d like to speak to Neville. When Neville had come to greet him, the man had flashed him a small coin with an unmistakable engraving.

“A mutual acquaintance would like to speak to you," the man said. “She’d like to arrange a meeting. She says you can set the time and place and can either tell me or mark the coin."

“…You can’t be serious."

“I quite am. I could produce a number of proofs to that effect. But none will be better than looking at this coin’s counterpart. You know full well that no one besides her could use it as a signal. I assume you’ve kept it?"

“Yes. I have it."

“Good. Then what shall I tell her?"

“I …I need to think about it."

“Of course."

The man glanced around.

“This is a good place you have, Neville. You do good work here. And I’ve heard good things about your work at Hogwarts. I think she’ll be happy to hear that you’re doing well."

The man put some money down on the table and left. Neville got up and went about his day and didn’t say anything. At the end of his shift, he checked the Protean coins in his jewel box. The ones linking him to Ginny, Hermione, Luna and Cho were unchanged. They hadn’t updated in years. The one Sarah Lahiri had given him 39 years ago, after she’d come within striking distance of breaking his mind, had a brief note in tiny print.

_Neville. My dear friend. I would like to meet. I have an offer to make you. A chance to undo some of the damage of our song, my loved one. I will meet you wherever you’d like._

Neville sat down in a chair and thought about his options. He hadn’t told anyone about what the man had said. He knew he should tell Hannah at some point. But she wasn’t the person who could help him most immediately. Neville picked up the coin linking him to Cho Chang and enchanted it to say:

_First most dangerous love has gotten in touch. Need advice._

Half an hour later, his phone rang.

“Neville, it’s Albus. Cho can’t talk right now. She told me to call you and that it’s important. What’s up?"

“I…she can’t talk?"

“No, Neville. I’m sorry."

“Is she ok?"

“Yes. She’s fine. She’s on mission. Is it something you can tell me?"

“Someone, someone very important from my past has unveiled. Someone I thought dead. She wants to meet. Do you –"

“Who have you told about this?"

“No one. Just Cho. I’ll tell Hannah when I see her."

“Oh God. Can you meet me at your place on Saturday at 6:30 a.m. your time?"

“I can."

“I’ll be there. Room is secure to eavesdropping spells right?"

“To the best of my abilities, yes."

“Ok. I’ll bring a few people. For the love of God Neville, _tell no one else,_ and only tell Hannah if you think she truly must know."

Albus hung up the phone. Neville told Hannah that night. No one else. And on Saturday morning, at 6:29, Neville was sitting at his most warded table when Albus Potter, Madeleine Chang-Martin, and Nate Miller walked in. Nate, looking hale and moving without haste, sat down at Neville’s table while Madeleine and Albus walked around the room, muttering detection spells. All three were visibly armed and armored.

“It’s good to see you again," Nate said.

Madeleine and Albus finished their inspections and sat down, at which point Neville reached into a groove on the table’s side and activated further wards he’d had built in. Nate looked expectantly at Albus.

“Ok. So Sarah Lahiri got in touch. How confident are you that it’s really her?"

“The…the enchantments we put on those coins were formidable. Sarah came up with them, something to make it impossible for anyone to alter them or use them except us, and that they’d become normal coins if either of us died. So I suppose someone could have undone all that. But she said something specifically that I don’t think anyone but her, Jess, Lev, Seamus or Ginny would have known to say."

“So I guess she’s not dead, huh?" Madeleine asked.

Nate shook his head at that.

“No one ever really believed it anyway, at least among folks I know. No one ever saw the body. It was a convenient fiction. Coming out in the open again is a big risk. That’s what I’d like to know. So, Neville, why do _you_ think she wants to meet? What’s important enough to put the peace at hazard?"

“I have some guesses. How much do you …how much do you know about our relationship? About what she gave us all that year?"

“My mother essentially never speaks of it," Madeleine said. “She talks a lot about the training she got with Nate’s group before uni, and one time she told a person from the Ministry to shut his fucking mouth when he started blabbering on about the Battle of Hogwarts, told him that he didn’t know what he was talking about. Other than that, nothing."

“Same here," Albus said. “My dad doesn’t know much about it first-hand. And you know my mom, what, four decades later, she has major flashbacks, they hit her like seizures. Dad’s good at dealing with it but mom never talks about it. For most of my life I’ve heard the British official history version. The one where Sarah ends up a war criminal. And Cho advised that I not dig deeper until I needed to. Which I guess is now."

“Your poor mother," Neville said. “After what Voldermort did to her when she was a kid, and then Sarah did something, something very particularly harmful to her when we were at Hogwarts. We tried our best to help her but I guess it wasn’t enough."

“Yes," Nate said. “It was. Ginny survived and thrived and is happy, which, under the circumstances, is quite the feat. But to your question Neville. The truth is, even I know little about what transpired that year. We sent our children away to protect Harry Potter and his friends. And after everything, those of us who are still around have no idea whether we made the right choice. But I’ve never had the chance to hear it from someone who was there, Neville. She was very dear to me at one point. I would appreciate the chance."

“All right," Neville said.

Hannah was standing at the bar. Neville gestured for her to come over. She took a seat next to him and put her hand on his.

“I’ll tell it."

**Chapter 20**

“I think I should start in 96 when Bellatrix got busted out of Azkaban. It was winter and we had been training with Harry, and Cho, and some other key folks, because the ministry sent this hack, Umbridge, to be our Defense Professor. And she pissed Harry off so badly that we found the Room of Requirement, organized lessons, and eventually went head to head with the Death Eaters at the Ministry in June of 97. We were six kids with minimal experience and we went against like 12 death eaters, and we got backup from the Order of the Phoenix soon enough, but still. It didn’t click then. It didn’t click for a lot of years actually, two things about that. The first was that the Death Eaters were pathetic. Absolutely not an army. Just some bored gentry and their thugs. When Dumbledore came he subdued ten of them in about a minute."

“The second was that a little bit of training went a long way. But we stopped then. We didn’t keep up the lessons the next year, or that summer or anything. I’ve had so many times to kick myself for that. But we were kids, and we believed, you know, in the government."

“And we were just completely wrong. Voldermort was a major league wizard, probably the most powerful on Earth at his peak, but he had a total of maybe a few hundred followers and only about thirty in the inner circle, and Bellatrix and Rodolphus were nothing to sneeze at, but for Pete's sake, Albus, your grandmother, a woman with zero serious combat training, killed Bellatrix in a duel of all things. And it’s all very romantic and everything to tell the story of Molly Weasley’s great moment but Cho was waiting on the sidelines with the heavy artillery. Bellatrix was never making it out of Hogwarts alive. She was an idiot to challenge us on home territory. But this group of losers knocked out the Ministry, took over Hogwarts, and I guess we were all just hoping Harry Potter would save us. Because we weren’t prepping at all, no guerilla warfare, nothing. The Order of the Phoenix …they lost Dumbledore and Snape and they just fell apart."

“I was, I guess I resisted in my own way. When the Death Eaters took over Hogwarts, I talked back to the Carrows. Harry had really inspired me back when he stood up to Umbridge. And I was trying to do the same. But then we met these three American kids. Jess was in Gryffindor and Sarah was in Ravenclaw so I guess I thought they were all right, but their buddy Lev was in Slytherin, and that kid was _mean_. Downright cruel to others. Early on, I remember, this Slytherin Crabbe and this Ravenclaw Terry Boot were having, uh, words in the hallway and people started lining up around the sides and it looked like it was going to be a brawl, but I guess we were in Lev’s way because he walked up and grabbed Terry by the collar of his robes and threw him into a wall, and said something like, don’t cause bottlenecks you idiots, and kept walking, and Sarah and Jess just followed saying nothing. And you gotta remember that Lev’s not big, he’s like average height, and Sarah’s tiny, about 5 nothing and Jess is tall for a girl and she’s got a solid build but I was quite a bit bigger than all three, and Lev picked Terry up like he weighed nothing and threw him probably 15 feet. So we gave them a lot of distance, and they hardly seemed to notice the rest of us, and they barely even talked to us a lot of days."

“But then me and Ginny got in a tight spot with the Carrows. They caught us putting up graffiti, that was, you know, that was what we were into back then, and it looked really bad for a moment, like something really bad was about to happen to your mom, Albus. But then these three Americans appear out of nowhere, put a bunch of Slytherin students to sleep and KO the Carrows. And only then did Ginny finally tell me that she had known they were allies because they had killed like 10 Death Eaters in an effort to protect Harry over the summer. And then Sarah offered to start training us, so we wouldn’t be so easy to back into a corner, and we said yes, and then I guess that was the real start of Dumbledore’s Army part II, although we soon started calling it the Hogwarts defense team, and then eventually Sarah’s army."

“I had known, on some level, that we were just skimming the surface of magic at school. Fun fact, I discovered I wasn’t a squib when my grandfather “accidentally” dropped me out of a third story window and I bounced. It took me probably 20 years to realize what it implied. That as a small child, before I’d had any training, and not holding a wand, I’d completely changed some underlying feature of reality for a brief moment. I’d changed the composition of my body, or the laws of gravity, to do the impossible. And there we were at school, learning small-impact spells by rote. Now, it seems clear that our teachers, the entire British government, wanted us to learn a very specific, mostly non-lethal set of magical tricks, and nothing else.”

“The Americans hadn’t grown up like that. For us, it was cool that you could enchant a car to fly, like your grandpa did Albus. We didn’t think, hey, if you can create a car that can fly, maybe you can make a gun that will _never miss_ , with bullets that eat away at your body like acid. The three of them had an armory worth of tricks like that. Your whole crew did, Nate. So when we had that first lesson with them, it was about as eye-opening for me as when I discovered that I had magic in the first place. They were just optimized for winning fights. Sarah called it "removing your adversary’s capacity for reprisal." They didn’t need wands, and for the most part they didn’t really need magic. If a knife in the back were the best available option, they would have chosen that. Magic only helped drive the knife in harder, helped the person holding it move faster. That’s going to be old-hat to you two because you trained with Cho. But it was a revelation to me."

“So we trained with them. Us two at first, and then eventually we let Seamus Finnegan in on it. And we started relaying the things they taught us to a larger group, allies and friends. Mostly the three good houses but a few Slytherins as well who had lost people to Voldermort. And it was just an entirely different philosophy. I was never going to be a killer, they saw that, and they trained me to be a strategic thinker, someone who could protect others. But Ginny, they trained to kill. A lot of it was pretty basic stuff. Jess got us lifting weights, practicing hand-to-hand stuff, eating differently. Lev taught us about hiding and striking at the most opportune moment. And Sarah was the big-picture person, taught us about setting the situation up so that the odds were in your favor. I talked to my grandma and your mom talked to her parents and we agreed to go back with the Americans over winter break and train with Nate’s crew. And the adults had more experience, more precision, taught us more about weapons."

“We learned a couple of important things then. We watched the three kids fight a group of ten adults to a standstill, and Jess said it was, because of what they’d been through with the, uh, the soul-giving process by which they’d revived her, they probably had the best telepathy among any combat specialists in the world. They were pulling off these impossibly complex coordinated maneuvers on the fly. Like a single organism. So I guess it dawned on me that these kids who looked like our peers we were probably also three of the most powerful wizards on Earth."

Nate nodded at that.

“You were right, Neville. By that winter they were the best small team by a long shot. The most efficient and single-minded. It wasn’t a raw firepower thing. Jess had a bigger engine than most but Lev and Sarah were pretty typical. And it didn’t carry over individually. We broke them up and suddenly Lev and Jess were mortal again. Back to being our students. But Sarah had leaped ahead of them, of all of us, and specifically when working with Jess and Lev as a team, she could transfer the benefit to her friends. Her subordinates really. She was moving in ways we didn’t understand."

Nate paused.

“In retrospect, we didn’t want to understand. I should have known. I could have gotten her off the path."

There was a moment of silence.

“I’m sorry Neville," Nate said. “Please continue."

“Ok. Well the second thing we learned is more minor, just that Cho was training full-time with your crew, Nate. But that really became important later."

“So we went back to school in January. And something was different. For a while they wouldn’t talk to me about it. But Lev and Jess were gone from school a lot and Sarah was quieter. More somber. Eventually she told me about them two and Jordan Loew, how they were going out and assassinating Death Eaters, and how worried she was that they’d never come back some night, and after a month or so we all talked about it. The two of them were so, calm about the whole thing. Unpleasantly serene. Lev said something like, he was more at peace with the world than he had been since Darren died, now that he felt like he was doing something."

“So Sarah and I started getting closer. For a little while, we were a couple. Around then we merged the two training groups. People weren’t super surprised to hear that the Americans were behind our change in methods, the move to coordinated combat games rather than individual spell practice. I mean they weren’t dumb. For the most part the Americans played cool but people had seen how easily Lev had handled Terry. And one time in potions a dangerous gas got leaked and before Slughorn could do anything the three of them cleared everyone out of the way and contained it in a way that just screamed “military training.” Folks didn’t trust them at first but we had this tournament to shake out who had what skills and they dominated. Everybody wanted to fight the Death Eaters and they showed real ability there, so that was about it. We worked together a lot and after a little while they were respected, liked, at the center of things. Plus Jess wrecked this Slytherin punk in a fight one time.”

“Something else, too about them. When we got angry, and it was pretty easy to get riled up in the middle of the games, they cooled down. They never lashed out. Never panicked or lost control. People respected that. And that was something we learned from them too. Like, deliberately, we set up games to test how well we could keep focused on the mission when someone was messing with your emotions or trying to upset you."

“And, that was the end for Sarah and me. It was late Feburary. It was the small group, them three and me and Seamus and Ginny. We met like that every so often to try out new things. And Lev suggested that we start throwing around our memories as weapons. I had no idea how to do it at the time but they could invade your mind and supplant your reality with some fiction, or, worse yet, something from their memories. So it was me and Ginny versus Sarah and Seamus, just playing tag, while Jess and Lev stood on the sidelines and bombarded us with these terrible experiences. You’d be looking for someone in the middle of a mess of broken closets and tables and then suddenly you’re a fifteen year old girl watching her mom die, and you had to keep your mental defenses up to distinguish fact from memory. It was goddamn awful."

“But Lev was too good at it. His memories or visions or whatever were especially vivid and unpleasant, and I’ll never know but I think he deliberately hit Sarah harder. Because the next thing I know, I’m about to tag her, I think, when we get hit with this wave of nausea and, something unpleasant with him and an American policeman tied to a chair that I’d prefer to think he made up, and Sarah just snapped. Steps out of where she was hiding, breaks the veil, puts her hands up, and the room started to shake, like we were in an earthquake. And she said. I remember it very clearly. She said: “How dare you! How fucking dare you! _Feel what I felt you fucking rat!”_ "

“And right then from my point of view the world ended. I’ve struggled for a long time with how to describe it. The first thing that hit me was darkness, total inability to perceive. And then pain, like, excruciating pain everywhere, and nausea. And then memories and images and ghosts started flooding in, and my mental defenses just collapsed. Too much at once. A bunch of Sarah’s bad memories on top of each other, her slicing some Death Eater in half with her coil and her delicate hand around a woman’s neck on the ground in a forest, her watching Lev fall apart at a funeral. And then some of _my_ bad memories on top of it, learning Bellatrix had gotten loose, things I didn’t even know I remembered. I was a baby in my grandma’s arms when Moody told her that my parents had been tortured to insanity but apparently the memory was still there and it played on top of everything else. Then something evil from the school itself is how I would call it. A ton of memories of students hurting each other with magic and without. And something darker and bigger too. Like, stars dying out. Void."

“But I could hardly have told you any of that when I was experiencing this. It was just a total wash of pain and horror and loss of self. No idea how long it lasted. And then it was over. I snapped back to reality and the first thing I see is Sarah clutching her leg. Bleeding. I looked at what she was looking at and Lev had shot her, had the pistol in his hand, and he was starting to throw up. Jess walked over to a mirror and started punching it, Seamus was rocking back and forth on the ground."

“And Ginny. She was silent for a bit. And then she started screaming. Top of her lungs, no sense, no words, like an animal, and she just started running. She ran right into a downed cabinet and tripped right over it and hit the floor hard and just got up and kept running. I could hardly see straight and my head was burning but Ginny ran by me and I just tackled her and held her down and told her that I loved her and that it would be ok and eventually she calmed down. Lev and Jess and Seamus joined us in a heap on the floor and everyone started trying to make sense of it and Sarah just sits down next to us and apologizes over and over. Said she would die if she could to undo it."

“The next few days were hardly any better. The memories kept lingering. Overpowering. I would be walking to class and suddenly, sense of self dissolved, back to a mix of my own worst memories and other people’s. And when they came back all I could consciously think of was ways to kill myself, what would be fastest given where I was. We have no idea. No idea how Sarah did it. I’ve looked it up and found nothing. Nothing to describe a spell that lasted that long and had those effects. It was something she made up. Something she hadn’t been planning to use until she lost control."

“We kept going to training. But I couldn’t see her anymore. I could hardly talk to her. I knew it was an accident. It was just too awful to make sense of."

“Then the Death Eaters went after my grandma. She went on the lam. I got word from McGonagall and I moved into the room full time. And that’s about when your mother showed up, Madeleine. We hadn’t seen her since winter break and she came in, uh, looking pretty different. Short hair. Nose looked like it had been broken and set a few times. And with a trunk full of weapons she could do some pretty horrifying things with. Bunch of Gryffindors moved into the room with me then. We were getting food from Aberforth Dumbledore at first but eventually Seamus cut a deal directly with the House Elves and we started getting our meals up there. Albus, your mom left after a close run-in with her family and the Death Eaters, and we spent about a month training full time. Cho was a natural strategist even then, she took over a toon, and eventually when we started running school defense drills, it became clear that she was Sarah’s second, not Jess or Lev. Sarah and she were just really compatible thinkers. They spent a lot of time together, planning."

“And then your dad returned, Albus, and Cho and Sarah set things into motion. We all went down to the Great Hall. And then things got kind of confusing for me. Voldermort talked to us, and then some American, turned out to be Putnam but I didn’t know at the time. Didn’t know Jordan Loew by sight but he heard the voice and summoned up his wife and two of the vamp elders. Jess summoned some demon and gave it something and then she and Lev joned Liz and Jordan. And Jordan announced to the hall that they were going to kill Jonathan Putnam and anyone was welcome to come with them."

And Sarah. She started losing it. Looking at her friends standing next to this man like she couldn’t believe it. I don’t think she knew that Putnam was still alive, and Jess and Lev had kept it from her. I was by her side. The air around her got weird and I took a few steps back and started warding. She was begging her friends to stay. And Jess just shook her head no. And the two of them walked up to her and pulled her in close and …they recited the poem I think you know. The one Jess had said she’d said at Darren’s and her mom’s funeral. The song we’ll sing over their bones, loved one."

Nate shuddered.

“Not a poem, Neville," he said. “A ritual. Signaling self-sacrifice. Best not to repeat it."

“I wold never," Neville said. “Anyway. As they were about to leave, Sarah looked at Jordan and said, so softly I’m not sure anyone but me heard it, “This is your fault.” And this next part might not make sense if you’ve never been around someone who tried to bend time. But nothing happened. And then it had already happened. I didn’t see anything. But it was in my memory. It hurt. It was a bad spell. Something humans shouldn’t do. McGonagall and Kingsley and I all reeled back and my vision blacked out for a few seconds. And when I came to Sarah was on the ground and Liz was standing over her with this crazy big sword at Sarah’s neck, the Elders arrayed behind her in a V. Sarah put her hands up in surrender and just cried.”

“At that point there was nothing else to do. The three humans and the three vampires left in a hurry, and Liz launched an attack on the Death Eaters like nothing I’d seen at that point, like a little electric fireball bomb that she summoned out of nowhere, and after that they were gone, and Sarah just stood there shell-shocked."

“Before we could reconvene, two Giants smashed straight through the main door and started going right for the smallest people in the room. Few dozen of the giant spiders right behind them and then in the doorway, contingent of gunmen, a dozen people, a couple wizards casting protective spells. Giants screamed, gunshots rang out, and everybody panicked. Well not everybody. When Sarah checked out to deal with her friends, Cho and I had put our toons behind tables we’d previously reinforced. My toon and I were covering the east end of the hall. But we hadn’t made a plan for the adults and they let us down real bad. Kingsley, Minerva, Lupin: when the giants came in, they ran for the exits. They blocked everyone’s line of fire. So then the challenge was getting everyone clear so we could deal with the attack without undue casualties. Cho sent out a plan in zero time, had me and my toon take on the spiders and the Giants while she and hers cleared civilians and tried to stymie the gunmen at the source."

“But Sarah wasn’t having any of that. She took one look at the Giants and just ran straight at them. At the time the Americans were working with these claws on their hands. Dennis Creevey was in her way and she shoved him hard and when he went down he was bleeding bad. I saw that and got out from behind our table to run after her and clear the path. I moved the Weasleys out of the way. And when Sarah got to the first Giant she jumped up to eye level with it and sunk her claws into its face. And there were a million threats in the room but she toppled the thing down and pounded his face into mush long after he died. I took the other one out as he tried to pry Sarah off his companion."

“By that point, Cho had gotten everyone behind tables and drawn all the fire to her toon. Ernie provided a big distraction, just lots of pure fire right at them and Cho appeared floating above the wizards and took them down. Just like the Americans. All efficiency. She got behind them and cut their necks. After that the gunmen were defenseless, Cho moved back to behind the tables and everyone opened fire. Sarah had disappeared. When the smoke cleared there were a bunch of dead muggles in the door and just utter fucking, shock from everyone we hadn’t trained with. We had already lost six of the people who didn’t move fast enough. Sarah appeared by the doors and waved them shut."

“She started shouting at us. It was hard to make any words out, the castle was shaking, but she seemed to think that we had reacted badly. That it was our fault. She singled out Arthur and Molly in particular for panicking and for a moment looked like she was going to attack them. Cho and I jumped up and got in between Sarah and the Weasleys. And then some kind of alarm went off. It was Jess’s voice. It said like, “ASTRONOMY TOWER BREACHED. ASTRONOMY TOWER BREACHED.” And Sarah turned around and flew over to the stairways leading to the Astronomy Tower.”

“We had a moment to discuss, and Cho took over. She told me to go keep an eye on Sarah, and she took command of my toon. I went upstairs, followed the noise, and found a firefight between Ginny, Parvati’s toon, George Weasley and Nymphadora Tonks and a bunch of Death Eaters, again backed up by riflemen. They were holding their own, no one was making any progress or landing any shots, and I was figuring out how to intervene, when one of the Death Eaters started screaming in just complete agony."

“Sarah’s army had trained a lot that year, and one thing we had picked up was the ability to see past each other’s veils. It had something to do with training in the school specifically. So I opened up, like a third sight that only worked with people we had trained with. And there was Sarah, floating upside down above the Death Eater, with her hands on the woman’s head. Everybody stopped firing for a moment and then Sarah ripped the woman’s head off and tossed it at the other Death Eaters. Before anybody could do anything, she floated up and got her coil around another Death Eater’s neck and sliced straight through it."

“The Death Eaters and their gunmen just panicked at that. For all they knew they’d awoken some gruesome protector spirit of the school itself. They started firing in all directions, discipline gone. It was the advantage we needed. Parvati’s team kept cool, and she put hers into shielded firing teams and pushed the Death Eaters back. Sarah dropped behind the Death Eaters and set two people in the rear line on fire. They stopped retreating then, and at that point we had them in a total vise. You know what I said earlier about the differences between an army and the Death Eaters. They had mercenaries with them but when we surveyed the hallway after the smoke had cleared there were eight of them dead and zero casualties on our side."

“We huddled a bit, tried to figure out our next step. Parvati and I were tracking Sarah, clutched up on a lighting fixture by the ceiling like a lemur. And then Sarah just went nuts firing at something we couldn’t see. Fire and ice and some kind of black electricity I had never seen. Parvati and I got everyone beneath a pretty strong shield and beat a retreat back around a corner."

“And then it all stopped and Sarah screamed. We peered around and she was standing in the middle of the hallway, veil gone, clutching at her face. She turned around wildly. Something had gouged her eyes out. She was babbling. We heard a deep, deeply alien voice. I remember the words well. We put our memories into a pensieve after to make sure we got it exactly right."

““Little Time-Mage," it said. “You are too reliant on your sight. Focus your mind."”

“Sarah oriented on something I couldn’t see, and stopped making any noise. And she started drawing power in. And the next part of this I won’t be able to explain well. But for a fraction of a second, I felt like I saw the future. I knew exactly what Sarah was going to do and what I needed to do. She was going to do the memory attack again. And I needed to protect my friends from her. Which was exactly what Cho had asked of me."

“So in the few seconds I had, I sent a vision out to everyone instructing them to get close and touch someone dear to them and focus on the people they loved and try their best to put a mental shield up and that Sarah was about to do something that might break our minds. Ginny’s eyes got wide and she shouted that she loved us and she herded everyone in between us and we put a shield together."

“And then it happened again. Same attack. Being ready for it made all the difference, for me anyway. We had practiced against more minor versions of the same spell a lot. Everyone we had trained with had different ways of visualizing their own ego, the strength of their own minds. My vision was my grandmother and I sitting in the entrance of my childhood home. And this time when Sarah sent out all the evil things in her mind and in the school to try to break me down I perceived them as unwelcome guests, ghosts, possibilities. And I held them off. Despair at the threshold like a wolf at the door but I kept on."

“The hallway went nuts. Things started flying around. Dirt and furniture and wind, the bodies of the Death Eaters and things that didn’t seem real. I don’t know if she had summoned a maelstrom the last time or not."

“Everyone we had trained with was ready, to some extent. But some, hard to quantify period of time later I heard another spell go off, and opened my eyes. Tonks was falling. She hadn’t trained with us. She wasn’t ready. She had put a wand against her head and fired."

“I turned to Sarah and shouted at her to stop, and tried to make my way to her, tried to disrupt to her by pushing her or shooting her if I needed to like Lev had done. But something else got to her first. I saw a brief glimpse of something that looked metallic and reptilian, and huge. It smashed right into Sarah and carried her through a wall. Took a huge chunk of the building out with it and then Sarah was gone. But on its way out something that felt a lot like a tail hit me in the face and knocked me into a wall, and I passed out."

“I woke up a few hours later with a terrible headache in the Great Hall, behind an overturned table surrounded by Cho and her toon, all at full alert. Cho explained that Parvati’s group had taken me down here along with all the other wounded and dead, and that Cho’s group had to that point successfully defended the main hall. I looked around and saw a pile of bodies, humans, giants, spiders and trolls, by the door, a solid blockade, and a bunch of ours laid out along the tables. Tonks. Fred Weasley. Colin Creevey. People you wouldn’t know, but my friends."

“I asked Cho what had happened to Sarah. She said she had no idea and that Parvati’s explanations hadn’t made any sense. All they knew was that Sarah had launched an attack that made Tonks kill herself and then that something had taken her out and ripped a part of the castle apart."

“Voldermort called a truce not long thereafter. Asked for Harry. We huddled over our dead. I coordinated around with the other toons and brought everyone to the main hall. I briefly ran into Harry and told him we were going to keep fighting. And then a few hours later that son of a bitch came up to the border of the school with Hagrid holding Harry’s body or what we thought was his body."

“I think you know about the next few moments. Or about some of them. I chopped off the head of that damned snake and beat a retreat back. But something important, then, which I don’t repeat much. I had seen Harry move. I saw him get under his cloak and escape. So when I got back to our lines, I told everyone I could. And out of a veil shimmered Nate here, along with Patricia Li, Shira and Ari Stadler, and John Wheating. I told them that Harry was alive, and that Lev and Jess were off fighting Putnam and Sarah off god knew where. Nate scanned the field and held up his fist. I looked up. There were Sarah’s parents, Anand and Raj, aboard a platform of some sort I couldn’t see, Raj sitting at the helm of the kind of machine gun you typically see in a helicopter."

“The Death Eaters were still fighting their way forward, more or less in a real formation, supported by the gunmen Voldermort had drafted up. It had been a bad day to that point, to say the least. But Raj opening fire on the Death Eaters remains the worst thing I have seen in my life. It would have been bad enough to use a regular machine gun. But she had loaded it with bullets that ate away at your body, just like Lev used, and she had accuracy and control that no muggle gunman ever could, with the two of them flying at crazy speeds around and through Death Eater ranks, shooting the entire time. In about a minute, 100 people were dead. When the clip ran out, Patricia walked out among the wounded and sang this horrible song and all the downed Death Eaters were swallowed up by the earth. Churned into meal."

“We went back to the castle. The Stadler-Li crew joined the fight and it pretty much ended right then. We lost a few more but the Death Eaters who had made it to the castle died in scores. Cho had been setting up traps while the rest of us talked to Voldermort and when the Death Eaters came her toon was waiting in choice positions. Some ran for the exits but Lev’s parents were covering the doors. Quick enough it was Bellatrix and Voldermort only, in the center of everything."

“As they were fighting, Sarah walks in. Where her eyes had been, there were two metallic orbs. She was wearing clothes I didn’t recognize. She called out Bellatrix’s name. Bellatrix looked. Molly struck, and Bellatrix fell."

“Then it was just Voldermort against a few of the Professors. Harry intervened. He won. There were scattered survivors on their part, the Malfoys somehow made it out, but the Death Eaters mounted a full-out assault and we repelled them."

“After that, Nate told us that his crew had also emerged victorious and with next to no casualties, that someone had just brute forced the wards away rather than being led in. Overall it was a landslide for our team. And we still don’t know why. Why they tried to attack us all with such clearly inadequate forces."

“Everyone wanted to celebrate and touch Harry and me. I was pretty out of it. My grandma asked people to give me space. Sarah walked around, touching people. I guess Nate, you and your crew decided to wait at the castle for a bit to see if Jess and Lev would return there, called some dozen other people to the scene whom I didn’t know. The Stadlers went out for a bit and came back with an old man and a little girl, whom I took to be Lev’s grandfather Lucas and sister Gemma. You all looked like you were having important discussions and I didn’t want any part of it."

“Sarah disappeared for a few minutes and I would have missed it but Ginny warned me that she was moving. We tracked her as she went up to the Gryffindor tower. She came down five minutes later with a little brown book I had seen Jess writing in sometimes. She sat down against a wall and started to read."

“A lot of people wanted to talk to her at that point, ask her questions, and she looked at them like they weren’t there. Her parents, I saw them try to ask her questions, and whatever she said back, it made Raj upset, and they rejoined Nate. I got up close, looked at her eyes. I will not be able to tell you precisely what I saw in them. I can’t put words to the ideas. It made me feel very small. She reached her hand out to me and signaled that I sit down next to her. I don’t know why, but I did. Sarah made some gesture I hadn’t seen and then we were shrouded. She whispered to me that she was sorry for everything, for what she had done to us, for what she was going to do to us. I didn’t know what to make of that. I fell asleep. When I woke up Sarah was standing at high alert at the doorway."

“The Elders were the first to return. They were quiet and they waited at the threshold. By that point probably 50 people remained. Patricia and Lucas walked over and stood by Sarah. The Elders bowed to her."

“And the rest of the story …isn’t really mine to tell. Or, I could, but, as long as you’re here, Nate, I think this is yours. I didn’t really understand what happened next anyway. I still don’t."

Nate nodded.

“All right, Neville. I can take it from here."

**Chapter 21**

“As Neville said, our crew only arrived at Hogwarts when we finished facing our own threat. A team of mercenaries. We later figured out it was a distraction, something to keep us pinned down. I used to think it was to keep us away from Voldermort. I am not so sure anymore. I think it might have been one of the supernatural powers, to let Sarah and Harry play out their own destinies. It was their day."

“They razed our camp, but we had ample time to evacuate. We emerged victorious in California some seven hours after the attack had commenced, and made our way to Hogwarts, where Kingsley had told us Voldermort had revealed himself. But before we did, our supervisors in Geneva contacted us and told us that there was a big battle going on in St. Louis, and that their wards had gone off for a time-spell at Hogwarts, and we should go investigate that first."

“So the bulk of our fighting force went to England. When we got there, as Neville said, the fight was about over. We helped speed that along. And then Sarah walks in. She wouldn’t say a word about where she had gone, but we pieced together that she’d faced off against a demigod somewhere else. But it was the eyes that gave it away. I’d heard about them. About artifacts given to humans in special circumstances. We called Lucas in, more schooled in magical lore than the rest of us, and he said she’d probably been abducted and returned by a Leshy. Out of Eastern Europe. Rumored to pay special attention to time-mages."

“We asked Sarah about it. She didn’t say anything. And we told her… this is going to be hard to say. But we told her it would be best if she killed herself right then. I told her that. That Geneva was probably sending in the enforcers against her and all of us right then, as soon as the demons could make the journey. And Sarah said that she would neither confirm nor deny the allegations but that she wasn’t doing anything until she saw Jess and Lev again."

“At that point, we considered just taking her out right then. But Lucas and Patricia gathered us around and said it would be unwise. The eyes link Sarah to the…creature she fought. And that if she called it back, the results might be apocalyptic. So we were stuck. All outcomes looked bad, but Lucas thought we’d have at least ten minutes warning before the demons’ arrival, which was enough time to evacuate everyone if necessary."

“While we were talking this over, Sarah disappeared for a moment, and Ari Stadler followed her. When they came back, Ari looked shell-shocked, and told us that Sarah had just ritually sacrificed the Carrows, whom we all knew on sight, in Ravenclaw tower to a demon in exchange for a necklace. They had been on our kill list, so Sarah had not precisely stepped out of bounds there, but we knew it couldn’t be good."

“We explained the situation to McGonagall and Kingsley, but as we were formulating a plan, the Elders came back. Sarah greeted them at the door, like she had been waiting for them, like they had reached out to her first. Neville called it a bow, but it was more than that; it was an old-world gesture of fealty. We’d heard about wizards who commanded that kind of loyalty among the supernatural forces, but no one alive in our crew had ever seen it happen."

“Patricia and Lucas told everyone to stay where they were and they went and talked to the Elders and Sarah. Then Patricia anounces that Sarah had some things to tell us, and Sarah said that Jess and Lev were about to return with Jordan and Liz, and that the kids would be in bad shape. And that Sarah was going to spend the next few minutes thinking about her options. She said that she’d asked the Elders to stop anyone from interfering with her while she thought about it. So the three of them went over to a wall and sat down. And they murmured to each other in some language I didn’t know. Nobody did anything."

“Sarah told the truth, and probably ten minutes later, Jordan and Liz came to the door, Liz carrying Jess and Lev. Liz was fine. Jordan could hardly walk, looked like a burnt husk. Lev was unconscious and breathing but barely and had been bitten by a vampire. Jess was dead. A quarter of her head was charred and bashed in."

“Sarah greeted them and invited them in, and told the rest of us that Liz and Jordan were with her for the time being. Liz laid the kids out on a dining table and the rest of us circled them in. Ari and Shira Stadler were extremely upset but Patricia warned them to be silent. Sarah asked Liz and Jordan some questions. She asked him about the status of Jonathan Putnam. Jordan said he was alive, bound, and with Liz’s scourge, and they were going to torture him until he revealed the location of all of his horcruxes. She asked him why he was returning with the kids’ bodies rather than the other way around."

“Jordan told us then that the spell Liz came up with to bind Putnam was extremely energy intensive and needed sacrifices to initiate. Jess had agreed to die for it, and Lev had agreed to be turned into a vampire to give Liz what strength he had. They’d long ago consented. And in exchange, they’d bound Liz, Jordan and the Elders to Sarah for twenty four hours for her to sort things out in peace."

Nate paused for a long moment.

“So negligent. We so failed to mind the three of them. I regret …we all do. Not being there. Not seeing what was coming."

“Jordan told us that we’d probably need to run clean-up in St. Louis, Anchorage, Jakarta, Lagos, that a bunch of people had seen them fighting Putnam’s crew and it was all over CNN. At that everyone started shouting at him. John Wheating, my second in command, looked like he was about to bash Jordan’s head in."

“Sarah put her hands up and just said, "stop." And everyone was silent. Neville, you’ve described some moments of your life when you realize how small you are, relative to all the power that’s out there. That was such a moment for me. Sarah, our child, made two dozen people obey her by infusing reality with her will. When she told us to stop, it didn’t seem like a command. It seemed like the only option available. Like water flowing downhill. I looked, after, at her eyes, and saw my life and my loved ones reflected in them, and I was afraid. In the aftermath, people started to reflect on what had just happened, what it meant, and they trembled."

“Except Patricia. She laughed, in her creaky terrifying way. Like you, Neville, I’ve made some efforts to remember that day precisely. I’m going to recite some of what was said verbatim."

Neville was startled when Nate spoke next. The words out of his mouth were, to Neville’s ears, indistinguishable from his memory of Patricia’s voice.

“So many cards to be holding, child. Two ancient beasts, and a great warrior. A weakened enemy, patiently awaiting execution. And a gift from someone many have mistaken for a God. We all know what the Orbs mean. We know what your gift to the demons means that Jess did."

Nate switched back to his regular voice.

“Sarah asked to be left alone to think for a few moments. Liz and the Elders walked away with her a bit and conferred. Liz put her wings around Sarah in a protective gesture. No one approached them. The rest of us talked. Cho and Kingsley joined us then. They said that they’d been in touch with Geneva and MI6 and if Sarah attempted to evade justice, Cho would intervene."

“Soon enough Sarah came over to stand with us. She put her hands in Lev’s hair and said nothing."

“Patricia said: "Sarah, we have been discussing your situation. We all know the stakes we are playing for. Your choices are surrender and die, or resist and maybe live, and maybe consign us all to doom. I am wondering if you are also asking yourself, if you leave, who will come with you.""

“Would you? Would you come with me?"

Nate had once again pulled off what Neville thought was a perfect imitation.

“These are your laws we broke. The spirit who took me showed me many possibilities. She did not show me you coming, Patricia. Why would you even consider it?"

“Oh, you young witches. You always think you are the first to think of starting a new world order in your likeness. It is your mistake to think we made those rules to never be broken. We made them, rather, to not be broken _lightly_. So, dear. Tell me. What was your need? Why did you attempt to undo the natural order of things?"

“To kill Jordan. He was taking my friends. I wanted to make him pay. I was so angry. Nothing else seemed important."

“And were there other things that were important?"

“I do not know. Too many moving parts. The predator showed me some futures in which it was better for Jordan to have lived. And some where it was better for him to have died. I overestimated him. His importance. Liz still would have taken my two away. If I leave today, I’ll leave him behind, not to punish him. But because his part in the drama is over, I think. I…I have not ruled Nate’s solution out. If I do kill myself and Jess for our crimes, I will let the team know. But I think that I would like a little more time to think it over. I have Liz and the Elders at my command for a day. I am going to think things through."

“Ah. This was not a perfect answer. But I think that I shall come with you. I knew a young man like you once. Gellert was dear to me. I was sorry to see him drown in his own ambitions. Perhaps you are the Grindelwald we deserve."

“At that," Nate said, returning to his voice, “Raj moved next to Sarah and stood between her and us. A Hogwarts student, Susan Bones, whose parents I had known distantly, followed. She said to us that she was honoring a promise to Lev. Everyone else was just confused and we all started asking Patricia and Raj what they were doing, what they were possibly thinking. They were silent. Cho pointed her gun at Sarah and said that she was obligated to try to stop them, and Sarah told Cho she appreciated all the help she had given and wished her the best."

“And then they were gone. Just like Neville said. Nothing happened, and then it had already happened. I saw nothing, and then I had a memory of the five women in a circle around the Elders and Lev and Jess forming a translucent sphere, and shooting off directly through the roof. I looked up and sure enough there was a huge hole in the ceiling. Like she had promised, she left Jordan behind, sitting there with the rest of us. I breathed and re-examined the memory. I realized that they had left almost an hour ago. Both timelines were true. It could not be. But it was."

Nate paused again.

“After that, there was not much to do. We waited for Geneva to come. When they did, they ascertained that we had been unable to constrain two of our own from violating our most fundamental rules. They told us we’d be put on trial for our negligence. Jordan went to Azkaban. All the fight had gone out of me by then. It was my last day of war."

“And that, I think," he said, “is about all the story that is mine to tell. Albus and Madeleine know this, I’m sure. That we were removed from our position as enforcers over our failure to stop Sarah and Jess from breaking the laws. And that for seven years, no one took our spot. Sarah, we did not hear from. Seven bad years. Wizards asserting themselves everywhere. Perhaps Geneva didn’t understand how much bad behavior we kept in check. Or perhaps they did not care. Until 2005 when Cho was ready to take up the mantle. Then, 25 good years. Peace among the magic folks. And when Sarah re-emerged, the Stadler-Li crew had withered away. Gone into retirement or joined civilian life. So what happened next, what led to the bomb being dropped, I only know by rumor. Albus and Madeleine, if you would not mind, I’d appreciate hearing it from you."

The two of them looked at each other.

“I guess that’s why you brought me along," Madeleine said. “I’ll give it a shot."

**Chapter 22**

“There’s not much more to say," she said. “My mother took seven years to assemble an army. She specialized in magical artifacts that muggles could use, so we could all but entirely pool resources with MI6. Most of the hard work was done before I was born. Flawless, untraceable assassinations of wizards who had taken over various places. My mom never had to take credit for any of it. People just knew. Things got better."

“June 2030. I’m 20. Albus is 24. Mom gets a note from a group of vampires that Sarah wants to meet. Just like you got Neville. She sets up a meeting. Old world accords. Neutral territory. Sarah and her team tell mom that they’ve been thinking about it for thirty years and they think the International Statute of Secrecy is evil. That it holds back life-saving innovations, that wizards should be collaborating with scientists to understand the universe and death. Says she’s going to start undoing it, revealing magic to muggles. Told my mom that her first choice would be team Cho’s support. Second choice would be their non-interference, which she said she’d be willing to pay us for. Third choice was her opposition. Gave mom a month to think about it."

“I was on summer break from uni and training with her and the crew. Mom couldn’t sleep. Total wreck. Told me and Albus and a few others about the offer. She had no idea what the right thing was. She knew that Sarah’s idea was an existential threat, one way or the other, and had no idea who would be standing when the dust cleared. At the end of the day, she decided that her obligations to Britain and the existing order came first, and she had to oppose Sarah. She was crying all the time. Thinking about what it meant for us."

“And we went back to war, Nate. Against the adversary we were always meant to face, I think. Sarah had been laying the groundwork for three decades. Her second cousin was prime minister of India, and she had his full support. A bunch of friendly faces in governments all throughout South America, Southeast Asia. Geneva told us to take them all out. We tried."

Madeleine shook her head.

“Overmatched. Every fucking time. They always seemed to know what we were doing. Well in advance of us. We thought we had spies. But no. Eventually we tried to take out a research facility, just my mom, Albus and me. And they fucking knew we were coming. They can predict everything we do, Nate. It seemed impossible. Eventually we let a random number generator have a large say in our strategy. I wish I were kidding. It helped. But they still seemed to know our entire option set even if we randomized order of operations."

“We lost so many friends and allies. Sometimes we’d see Sarah on the field and then we’d all just be subdued, left dazed and turned around and they’d move their research elsewhere. But every so often we’d face vamps on the field and they were never so restrained. They seemed to delight in it. My sister got bitten and then shot herself immediately in ’33. I was there. As far as I know, we scored zero major victories in five years."

“Two years ago, Sarah got word to us that she thought endgame was at hand and it was time for us to surrender. She said she was going to arrange a hijacking of a U.S. presidential address and reveal magic to everyone simultaneously. And Geneva told her that they wanted to negotiate terms in Karachi."

Madeleine fell silent. Albus wiped at his eyes.

“We had a lot of friends there," Albus said quietly.

“As did we," Nate said. “I was watching negotiations through John Wheating and Ari Stadler’s eyes."

“Do you know," Hannah said. “That the Ministry still maintains it had nothing to do with wizards? That it was a domestic dispute gone nuclear. Hell. We suspected otherwise. But I hadn’t known."

“So," Neville said. “Sarah was there? Was the bomb aimed at her?"

“Yes, she was there, and no, we don’t know who the target was," Albus said. “Could have been her, could have been Geneva, could have been someone else. Probably 100 of the most powerful wizards in one room; a lot of targets. Eight million dead and still we don’t know. It seems likely. But we don’t know for sure."

The table was quiet.

“‘And …what have you been doing since?" Neville asked.

“Playing intermediary for disputes between the supernatural nations," Madeleine said. “Some of the big players, the Goblins, the demons, approached us afterwards. They said that things had gotten out of hand. They suggested that my mom’s crew turn into the medium through which different groups could contest."

“I hadn’t known that," Nate said.

“Do you think they were behind the bomb?" Neville asked.

“As Albus said, we don’t know," Madeleine replied. “But some of the things their envoys said strongly implied that they saw us all as pawns and that they’d had their hands in events that led to Karachi. And that they regretted it, once some unknown player had shown inclination to upend the board."

They were silent again.

“I knew Sarah survived it, though," Albus said.

Everyone turned to look at him.

“If this is a joke, Albus," Nate said, “I’m going to be very upset."

“No," Albus said. “Unfortunately, no. We went on mission for a group of goblins four months ago. We were robbing…not important. But we were in a huge cave system out in Southeast Asia, a few miles deeper than any Muggle has gotten. We were trying to go in undetected, so the team was me, Cho, and two cloaked figures the goblins lent us. They seemed to understand English but didn’t say anything on the descent, dead quiet, great veils, we couldn’t see anything about them, and we didn’t push it. Cho’s policy is that in general, the less we know about the folks who get drafted into coming with us, the better."

“So we got the, uh, thing we were going for. But on the way back up, Cho or I or one of them triggered some kind of failsafe. We’re moving in near total darkness through these dead tight passages, and we get to a little cavern, take a breath, and suddenly behind us, we hear, I think the right word is wailing. Cho recognized it, I think, because she started moving around fast and trying to set up some kind of shield that I didn’t know anything about. And I’ve seen her under serious pressure, under all sorts of fire, but this was probably the only time I’ve ever seen her actually scared, starting to breathe too fast and moving without her usual care."

“Before I could figure out how to help, though, the shorter of the two figures took off her hood, and it was this little Indian woman with a long braid. She said, “Cho, Albus, we’ll take it from here.” And her companion shrugged out of his robe, and he was just, like, this teenager, except with terrible scars on his cheeks, and then wings grew out of his back. He looked right at me and said, “you turned out good-looking. Tell Ginny I say hello.””

“The only word Cho could get out for about 10 seconds was “fuck” but eventually she asked them what they were doing there, and Sarah replied, if I recall, “that’s complicated, but suffice to say that we wouldn’t be here if your mission were anything other than very important. Lev will stay here and I’ll clear the path forward. Let’s get moving.””

“Right then, the first of the attack came, which I remember only as a sense of impending doom and black splotches in the air, and Lev drew a rifle out of nowhere and held the thing one-handed, and put an absurdly big sword in his other, and starts simultaneously slashing and shooting at things I couldn’t see. A few seconds later his wings expanded to fill up the span of our little cavern, and I couldn’t see anything beyond them, and Sarah put a little fireball into her hands and just jumped straight into the stone above our heads and burned a new path out. It had taken us 4 days to make the descent and she got us out in an hour. The entire region has serious anti-disapparition spells on it, so when we got to the surface, Sarah just told us to fly away as high and as far as we could get. I was, you know, looking ahead of us as we did that, so I’m not exactly sure what she did, but there was what I would imagine an earthquake would sound like, just a huge rumbling at the edge of my hearing and stones collapsing. Cho and I got a bit into the stratosphere before we were outside the spell range, and she grabbed me and we went to one of our safe-houses, verified that we weren’t being followed and got home."

“I asked her if those two were who I thought they were, and Cho said yes, and said that I should only tell someone if I didn’t care about that person’s life very much, and that was why I never told you, Madeleine. We went back a few weeks later to the site. Miles of rubble. I’m not sure if it was magic, or if Lev set off a bomb in the base of the cave system. Doesn’t matter. Not too many living things in a complex like that. And that was the last I saw her."

“So, yes. I knew she was alive. I didn’t get a good glimpse or anything. For whatever reason the cave’s collapse never made the English language news. I don’t know the story there. Don’t know the power structures. But the Goblins whisper about it. I think they know what happened."

Madeleine leaned over the table, like she was going to whisper something to Albus, and punched him in the face.

Albus reeled back, his nose bleeding, but soon enough had undone the damage and was sitting as he had been.

“I’m not saying I don’t understand why you did it, though," Madeleine said.

“Point taken," Albus said.

“All right, folks." Nate said. “With all of this information, I’m not sure we’re any closer to understanding why she contacted you, Neville. Why now? Why put everything at hazard?"

“My best guess," Neville said, “is that for some reason, she thinks it’s endgame again. What she said in her message was that there was… an opportunity to undo some of the damage of her song. That could mean either that she’s going to erase events… or she has something she thinks will make it all better. I can’t imagine what. But it was never my strong suit to anticipate her."

“Are you going to say yes then?" Madeleine asked.

**Chapter 23**

Neville looked around the table. He saw an old, favored mentor from childhood, his wife, and the son and daughter of two of his best friends.

“Will you all be there if I say yes?"

“If you’d like, Neville," Nate said.

“I’ll probably be there whether you like it or not," Madeleine said.

Albus nodded.

“Honey. I’ll support you no matter what," Hannah said. “But I wish she had never contacted us. It can only be bad news. If you feel like you must see her …I’ll understand. But I hope you don’t."

“But you’ll be there if I do see her?"

“Yes, Neville. Yes."

“All right then," Neville said. “I’ll tell her next Saturday, this time. Every one of you. Please be here before then. Just you four, please."

Neville’s guests said they would be there and departed. Hannah went to the bathroom and threw up. Neville sat at the table and waited for the morning crowd.

The song we’ll sing over their bones, loved one, he thought.

The land will recall long after we’re gone.

**Chapter 24**

And so it is that a week later, the same five people are sitting at the same table, drinking coffee, waiting.

Sarah is not late. She steps up to the threshold and bows. She is wearing street clothes, a baseball cap and dark glasses. She scans the room.

“Madeleine, I was sorry to hear about Elena. Do you mean me harm?"

“Yes," Madeleine says. “But not today. I’m with Neville. If he offers you safe passage, I’ll respect it."

“Thank you. Neville, may we come in?"

“Who is with you?"

“Claude Delacour, distant cousin of Albus’s by marriage, whom you met two weeks ago, and Elizabeth Anne Loew, whom most of you know. Others are stationed around the alley but won’t enter. May the three of us come inside?"

“Yes."

“Albus," Sarah asks, “would you mind …"

Albus is already moving with his wand out. Directly behind Sarah, Liz Loew and the dapper man who delivered the coin to Neville materialize. To Neville, Liz looks exactly like she did when he last saw her nearly 40 years ago, a middle-aged, petite woman with a blonde bob, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Albus and Claude perform a variety of wand motions that Neville does not recognize in unison, and then both nod. Sarah and her two enter. Liz remains standing by the door with her arms crossed. Claude and Sarah sit down with Neville. Sarah takes off her glasses.

Neville looks at her, careful not to gaze into her eyes.

[Why the wind?] he sends.

[As soon the stars, the trembling within] Sarah replies.

In unison, they recite:

[What we’ll do when we see them again.

when I find them, friend of mine,

then you will know the state I am in.]

“It’s her," Neville says.

“Thank you, Neville. I wonder now if Jess’s poem does not make more sense now than it did then. Perhaps the “them” is one another rather than our enemies. I am very happy to see you.”

“Aren’t you going to put us through some ID tests?" Madeleine asks.

“Liz already did. Much better to automate the process."

Sarah turns to Nate.

“It is good to see you again, old friend. You look well."

“Yes," Nate says. “Despite everything. I am happy to see you as well."

Hannah gets up to bring over a tray with three cups of coffee; she gives one to Liz at the door, and two to Sarah and Claude, for which the new entrants all say thanks.

“I will start," Sarah says. “We have some time, but not as much as I would like. I’m here to offer you some things. The first is that I will answer any questions you have. I have been keeping secrets my whole life, and I am exhausted of it. I will only leave out information for the sake of time. The second is that I have something material I would like to give you. And the third is that I would like to offer you a choice of possible futures. But let’s begin with questions. I am sure that you have some."

“I do," Neville says. “About the big picture. What was the creature that took you? And where did it take you?"

“The Leshy. She has a name but better to refer to her as generic. And "her" is a bit misleading but she represented to me as female. Ancient demigod, pays attention to humans who try to swim against the stream of time, as I did. Some think she counseled the magicians who made the original time-turners. She took me…not of this realm. Because I was on the verge of altering the rules of reality. Locally, globally, temporally, I don’t know. Neither did she. But that was Harry’s day, and I threatened to alter the flow of his fate. So she removed me from the battle. I was so angry and afraid. After I had lost everything, I felt, I perceived a great doom in that hallway that day, and lost it. It was too much. I am …I am sorry about Tonks."

“You know I considered inviting Edward here."

“Her son?"

“Yeah."

“But you didn’t."

“I thought he might want to take a shot at you, and that you might hurt him."

“Perhaps," she said, “he deserves the opportunity to try. But I appreciate your restraint."

“As to where it took me: there are many realities, Neville. Humans have known this for a long time. Listen to the testimonies of shamans who eat plants that temporarily change the chemistry of their minds. Some of them wandered substantially farther than that. The Leshy is a guide. She took me to a place where I could see more of the pattern of the fabric. Possible paths and pasts that never came to be. We fought, endlessly. Ate together. Watched people, friends and enemies and strangers, from afar, thrive and suffer under different possible timelines. She returned me when… I am not entirely sure why she chose to place me back when she did. In time to answer for my crimes, and for Jess’s, but too late to change Harry’s fate, is my best guess. Why that was important, I don’t know. My truest mentor, my first and most worthy adversary. At some tiny fraction of her total processing power, I think, she set me on my current path. She told me not to be afraid of the possibilities I thought most likely."

Madeleine is shaking.

“You think we’re in a simulation, don’t you," she whispers.

“Ah. Does your mother think so as well?"

“She does. You referred to the Leshy’s processing power. I knew it. I fucking knew it."

“Why do you think that?" Albus asks.

“First, I should say that I view as equally likely the hypotheses that I am insane and imagining everything or that only I exist. But the consequences of my choices in those possible worlds are impossible to discern, so I act as though we are in a simulation, in which case my actions are potentially very consequential, and convergent with those I would take in basement reality."

“It’s about magic, Albus. Magic makes no sense. Everyone else lives by certain all-but-deterministic rules, and we can summon up fire from nothing and fly without physical propulsion? I do not buy it. That reality would have emerged this way. So we have been working instead from hypotheses that start from the premise that there is an author. At first we thought, perhaps there is a God. But then we started subjecting the Elders to tests. Back in the early 2000s. They cooperated. And what we learned about them …is most easily explainable as they are just like us, except they’ve been gifted with more processing power. Which means they’re analogous to faster programs. Both more efficient and more powerful. And then we started wondering if that could be turned into more and more accurate predictive algorithms. It could. I do not know how much computer science or statistics you know, Neville. But the short version is that when we applied the full scope of our available brainpower to the problem of predicting what people around us would do, it turned out that the error term was vanishingly small. And, coupled with some other tests, that led us to place a great deal of our our probability mass on the simulation hypothesis."

“That’s how," Madeleine says. She is looking at the table. “That’s how you knew what we were doing before we did."

“Yes, sweetheart," Sarah says. “In the 20th century, a sci-fi writer said that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. What we have learned instead is that a sufficiently accurate predictive algorithm is indistinguishable from God. It was never a fair fight, Madeleine. We tried to limit the casualties as much as possible. But the vampires whom we allied with, who were a necessary part of constructing the algorithms, need to feed on other processing units to continue. It is always brainpower they’re after."

Madeleine says nothing to that.

“Where are Jess and Lev?" Neville asks.

“With my scourge. The three of us rarely travel together. Jess has not been in combat since Hogwarts. She raised our children. She writes music now. Lev is –"

“We know what Lev does," Albus says quietly. “Half the murders in the Western World get attributed to him."

“I can’t speak to everything that he’s done," Sarah says. “I have only had command of the full forces for about a decade now. But he is not a free agent, Albus. The vampires don’t work like that. If anyone deserves blame for things he’s done, it’s me, and the other humans allied with the scourge. And I would caution you to remember that we see little reason to discourage outsized rumors about our capacity for reprisal."

“So you decided to let them live, after the battle," Neville says.

“Yes. Jess came back quickly once I did a little research into horcrux revival spells. Lev took a bit more time to wake up from Liz’s bite. I, um. I’ve had a lot of opportunities to regret my choice to let him come back. Jess I never worried about. But when Lev was lying there, incapacitated, Liz told me that it was my choice to kill him or not, that no one would intervene. I let him come back. He was awful. For maybe 15 years. The transformation changes a lot of your hormones and cognition. And he was eighteen at the time. In some respects, he was frozen at that stage of development. Angry and mean and cruel. Back then, Patricia was in command of the operation, my regent until the vampires thought me worthy, and she used him in ways I did not approve of. And he loved it. But he’s calmed down over time. He meant what he said back in the caves, Albus. Jess said she was sorry she couldn’t make it."

The table pauses.

“Why did Putnam come out that day?" Neville asks. “Why take that risk? He had to know Jordan and company were after him. Or, really, the whole thing. We were just kids and we wiped the floor with them. Why were our enemies so stupid?"

“These are just guesses," Sarah says, “but I think that Voldermort was actually an idiot and his rise is Britain’s fault for carving out its own set of leaky rules and enforcement mechanisms. When he figured out the three were going after his horcruxes, did he make, you know, _more?_ And hide them somewhere better? No. There is no way to explain keeping Nagini, crucial to his survival, on his person at all times as the actions of an intelligent adversary. Having said that, he was probably the most powerful combat wizard on earth at the time and that has a way of adversely affecting one’s judgment. I would know."

“As to Putnam …this time, I think we were the idiots. Well, Jordan and Lev and Jess specifically. After we captured him, Liz and her subordinates tortured him to insanity and we read all of his memories like a scroll. We saw an unhappy childhood, in terrible places, and a man who raised him, nurtured him, and subjected him to a ritual we’d never seen and don’t understand. We think it affected his beliefs and judgment for his whole life. To what purpose, we don’t know. The poor man. But as toxoplasma causes the rat to stop fearing the cat, we think spell that ruined his life moved him to lure Lev and Jess away and die. And of course they obliged him. And I was too upset to try to reason with them about how implausible his actions were. How comic book villain-esque."

“Sarah," Nate says. “Why did Patricia and Raj go with you that day?"

“What do you know about Patricia’s origins?" Sarah asks.

“I know that Lucas met her a century ago somewhere in Western Asia and that she was already ancient by then. Nothing else. I know that she terrifies me."

“Rightfully so. She was not fully human. Neither was my mother, nor, it turned out, Susan. Somewhere in their lineage, there were spirits. That mix with intelligent creatures. That’s where we think magic comes from, as well as half-breeds like goblins and veela and mermaids. Some wizards are just fewer generations removed from those bloodlines. Patricia’s mother and my mother’s father, were, I think, not of this world."

“I assume you remember what Patricia said at Hogwarts. She never spoke much about her designs. But her actions were most consistent with seeking to guide humans who wanted to …undo our institutions. Question the architecture. Which is what we’ve been doing. She’s moved on now. But I think they thought I was perhaps capable of doing so. I may be. I continue working at it in their memories."

“So your mother did not make it out of Karachi, then," Nate says. “I am sorry to hear that."

“Thank you, Nate."

“How did _you_ survive, Sarah?" Neville asks. “You must be the only human in history to survive a direct hit from a hydrogen bomb."

“My …my mother shielded me."

“And no one else?"

Sarah looks down at the table.

“Oh my god," Hannah breathes.

“Maybe she couldn’t save anyone else," Sarah whispers. “I don’t know."

Sarah looks up.

“If it had just been a bomb, I could have shielded everyone or stopped time and redirected it. The attack came across multiple dimensions. Someone had warded against me specifically. My ability to alter the flow. I was constrained and helpless as I started to watch fire envelop everything. My dad and everyone else. And my mom paused reality and …she told me about my heritage. She told me to trust the Leshy’s advice and to trust my beliefs about why I was on Earth. She called my mantle “version control.” She evaporated with everyone else. I stumbled out of the wreckage."

Sarah looks directly at Neville. He looks into her eyes and sees stars.

“You don’t know who did it?" he asks.

“I thought," Madeleine says, “that you said that the error term of human behavior is vanishingly small. How could you not know? Or how did you not see it coming?"

“Someone else has either a better training set, or a better set of algorithms, or more processing power," Sarah says, “which is to say that a supernatural power intervened directly that day. We didn’t think we were facing anyone like that. But they can’t act alone. They have to be summoned and directed by humans."

“We came up with a list of candidates. Some died before we could capture them. Some killed themselves as we closed in. A few remain at large. And the rest we captured and looked through their memories. We never found the one who dropped the bomb or even the one who ordered it. But we found enough else I would have liked to have never known. You wouldn’t believe, Neville – well, perhaps you would – how many magic-using men have, in their lives, abducted, enchanted and raped women, and then erased their memories of it. I think from their point of view it was as if nothing had ever happened. We killed them all. Anyone innocent, we returned to their homes. But that was far fewer people than you might wish to believe."

“In fact, another candidate will be attempting to join us shortly. In about five minutes, I think. Hannah called Geneva and told them I was coming and they’re sending, among others, a man we’ve been meaning to get our hands on. That’s going to have to be the end of our conversation."

Hannah starts breathing hysterically and drops her mug, which Sarah intercepts mid-flight and places on the table. She gazes at Hannah.

“No, we’re not going to punish you for it. Yes, we’ve been tracking all of you and your communications since we first made contact. Claude set that up when he visited two weeks ago. Though honestly, Hannah, it was very poor form to undermine your husband like that."

Neville’s face is slack in shock. Nate watches passively. Albus glances around the room rapidly. Madeleine stands up and withdraws a machete from an unseen belt loop and makes to slash at the air.

“Please stop," Sarah says. “We’re going to apprehend the man before he gets inside. That’s why I have supporters in the alley and around the building. There is no enchantment here for you to undo, Madeleine. We still have time to talk."

Claude smiles and murmurs something Neville can’t hear.

“Oh shut up," Sarah says to him. “Listen. Everyone. I have some things to offer you if you have no more questions. Will you hear me out?"

No one says anything. Madeleine sits down again and stares at Hannah.

Neville is dizzy from the betrayal. Not because Hannah had thought her loyalties to law and order superseded her obligations to Neville. But because of her arrogance. Had she not listened to Madeleine’s descriptions of being routinely overmatched? Sarah looks at him.

“I’m sorry we used you all," she said. “But Neville. Please. Events are already in motion. Before I go I’d like to give you the things I came with. I ask you as a friend."

Neville nods.

“All right then. First, this –" Sarah pulls out a folded piece of paper – “is our version of the story of our year at Hogwarts together. I compiled Lev’s recollections, and some of Jess’s diary entries. A brief interlude from my mother. I want you to have it. If you touch it to the Protean coin we forged, it will expand. Only you will be able to read it at first. When you’re done, you can share it with others if you’d like."

Sarah slides the paper across the table. Neville accepts and pockets it.

“Thank you. And the second thing is an invitation."

She addresses the entire table.

“Everyone, we are leaving. Earth. I’m inviting you all to come with us. Yes, you too, Hannah. We’re extending the offer to everyone in the old crowd. Most will say no. Seamus and Susan and Padma and Parvati are coming, and their families."

“Neville, I hate it here. On Earth. I just wanted to write. I just wanted my friends to be safe. I’ve been fighting my whole life. I’m goddamn sick of it. I’ve killed, so many people. Or watched a million others die. We have magic. We could make everyone live forever. It’s so stupid."

“We think we can never be safe here. The forces that oppose us have so many tools at their disposal. And …we want to start getting to the bottom of things. That’s going to mean conducting some potentially very dangerous experiments on the fabric. We want to be very far away from the bulk of sentient life as we know it when we do."

“Someone has been moving the pieces. Someone wrote the code that configures our lives, we think. We sometimes think we see the author’s signature. Little jokes. The only two werewolves anyone remembers were named ‘Fenrir’ and ‘Lupin’. It’s not funny to me, Neville. It’s our fucking lives. We have some questions we want to ask. About suffering and variability and incompatibility."

“I do not plan to say precisely what our plan is. But if any of you wants to get in touch, I don’t think it will be hard. I’d love to have each of you."

Liz whistles.

“That’s our cue to go," Sarah says.“Goodbye, friends."

No one says anything as Sarah, Claude and Liz depart. Claude bows on his way out.

Madeleine tells Nate and Albus that it would be best if they were miles away from the scene ASAP, and the three of them leave soon after.

Neville and Hannah are still sitting at the same table in silence fifteen minutes later as delegates from the Ministry of Magic burst through the door shouting. They lead Neville away in handcuffs and Hannah cries.

**Chapter 25**

Neville is awaiting trial in Azkaban for offering material aid to a terrorist organization when Sarah visits again, appearing directly in his mind.

[Do you want my assistance in getting out of here?]

[No, thank you.]

[Ok.] Sarah sounds sad to him.

[Goodbye then.]

[Sarah?]

[Yes Neville?]

[Do you regret it all?]

[Every day, Neville. I wish I could have…but it’s a fantasy. There were only competing apocalypses to choose between. My choices were to be atop the wave or washed away. But, yes. I sometimes wish we could have been washed away together.]

[Goodbye then.]

**Part VI**

**Chapter 26**

A gaunt man leans on a young woman in the ruins of a burned city, walking slowly as obsidian hard-lined eyes track their steps; but none will speak to them. The damage has been incalculable, he thinks, and he has long stopped believing he will find the man he looks for. In the gloom his companion traces the outlines of the lurking creatures as if to invite them to join or perhaps begone. The two stop and put their hands in the earth and wait there to be consumed.

**Chapter 27**

I miss you, Neville. I thought I would be happier to leave Earth. But I miss you and yours.

Poor Lucknow. I wonder who made it out.

Jess is dancing, by the windows, as great expanses pass. She is drawing something from them. I do not know what. Art, or magic. What is the difference.

Lev and the little ones are training. We think soon enough we will be able to travel through the void unaccompanied.

Well, come then, author. Speak to me. I wonder how our inadequacies will stack up.

I’ll be waiting, surrounded by loved ones, with knives out.


End file.
